


My Soulmates are IDOLS |✔️ [SoulBond Series]

by tinyeyecat



Category: K-pop, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Idols, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Music, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, BTS Soulmate AU, Comedy, Crack, Drama, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Harem, Hurt/Comfort, Hybrids, Jealousy, Korean Entertainment Industry, Multi, OT7, Polyamory, Reverse Harem, Romance, Romantic Soulmates, Sexual Tension, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Soulmates, an original story that became a fanfiction, body exchange, entirely inspired by crazy kdrama romance scenes, they don't know they have the same soulmate, this is not a normal soulmate story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2020-04-06 10:25:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 60,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19060768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyeyecat/pseuds/tinyeyecat
Summary: In which a broke art student is the soulmate of seven worldwide famous idols.❤This is an alternate universe where people wake up on their 20th birthdays to timers on their wrists, strings of fate on their pinkies or even in the body/ beds of their soulmates...etc.The GenZ soulmark however, is one that changes every week.❤For faster updates...Find me @tapas.io and @wattpad at tinyeyecat!





	1. Coffee

**"On breaking news today, Scientists have discovered rising numbers of soulmates experiencing the Gen Z Soulmate Phenomenon."**

The newscaster was that of an unfamiliar face. It was usually the same moody bespectacled dude who resembled too much like her uncle to be normal.

Today, however, was an unfamiliar, painted face with thick smears of too light foundation made obvious by the 4K HD Television Screen. The newscaster's lips were overly pink due to the television's hyper-saturation technology. Pupils covered by cheap coloured contacts made obvious by the unglamorous brown cuts of colour on the little cups of plastic.

**"Unlike your usual one-time soul bond such as the common timer mark, red string of fate or colour flood. The Gen Z soulmates are people who will experience more types of soul bonds than usual, with numbers ranging from two to four. The possibilities are endless and chaotic, and some complain to experience changes or additions in a matter of days. For example, a timer marked soulmate could find themselves with an additional compass mark."**

Perhaps the only saving grace would be the newscaster's fashion style. A crisp cut business outfit and pencil skirt paired off with decent studs- Oh wait...Amber winced, lips twitching with disgust.

**"The rising cases have led to numerous alarming issues. One example is the sudden body transfer between Plus CEO Richard Clay, famous for his timer mark, and his soulmate during his product launching speech for the latest smartphone. The incident was alarming and unexpected to both parties having had timer marks since their soul bonded age."**

The look was ruined only because of the slightly browned spot of- was that coffee?- on the edge of her collar. The newscaster smiled and yet again she caught sight of pinked teeth, lipstick having smudged against horrendously yellowed incisors.

Seriously, thank you saturation and sharpness function. Thank You.

" **People experiencing the GenZ soul bond are reminded to stay alert, be cautious and seek help if in sudden unknown situations. Please immediately notify closed family members if GenZ soul bond symptoms are showing or seek help from the nearest Soulmate International Facility in the country. "**

Sometimes Amber wondered if modern technology was that good, and whether you really needed a 4k HD TV to enhance the blemishes of whoever was on screen. It was all fine and dandy when the TV was just a little box of static blurriness.

Perfect for flawless skin.

**"Furthermore on the topic of soul bonds. An alarming study by the University of England revealed that a rising number of males are reportedly being paired off with girls in a polyamory soulbond relationship. "**

Amber blinked raising her brow. Oh?

The newscaster nods almost as if she could see Amber. **"That's right, one female, multiple males. Scientists speculate this to be due to historical female genocides leading to the imbalance of natural genetic exchange."**

Oh damn, reverse harem. Amber stifled a laugh, looks like humanity did screw up something by favouring the male gender in the past.

" **There has yet to be a confirmation but recent cases note that males with close relationships have a higher chance of obtaining the same female soulmate, promising better liveability."**

Well, on the bright side, at least they were all friends.

**"Additionally, females under the polyamory soulmate bond are giving birth to more than one child at a time. Twins are a common occurrence and the average number of children within these households are currently at 5.5 "**

"5.5? Did they split the kid or something?" A sharp clipped voice resounded around the room, heavy with an accent that resulted in exotic lilting tones in her pronunciation. Amber doesn't really know what accent she has because her Mom spoke seven languages and it resulted in an accent that nobody could really pinpoint its origin.

**" Characteristics of a polyamory soulmate bond include having more soulbonds than usual. To date, there has been about thousands of cases worldwide. The most famous case being the Mattner brothers, three famous Hollywood actors who have recently married their 26-year-old Vietnamese soulmate. "**

"It's a math thing, Mom." Amber rolled her eyes, accepting the slice of- bread toasted with butter and sugar- from the porcelain plate. "And I thought you went to University!"

"Ambrosia!" The woman gasped, outraged at her audacity. "I haven't done any Math in 20 years. " She gave her a look, turning back to the kitchen to continue on cooking up lunch. From the smell of it, probably a concoction of oysters and chicken rice. Amber winced at her full and extremely sugary name.

Tsked. Who the hell names their kid Ambrosia?

She picked up the remote control, pressing a few rubbery buttons, slightly broken from years of abuse. The little buggers refused to react and she hammered her index finger hard onto one of the buttons, effectively squishing it down so deep it stayed stuck within the crevices of the plastic.

Damn it, at least that switched the channel.

Low bass thrummed in the air, and a pulsating beat played along to the thrum of a raspy growl executed at a steady rhythm. The familiar sound sends her heart fluttering within her chest.

Amber describes the voice as coffee.

The kind with a smooth mild bodied bitterness, followed by the gasping burn of tongue-tingling chilli in the aftertaste, topped off with generous chips -not cubes, mind you- of ice that had been hammered into shards by a pissed off barista.

But beyond the aggressiveness of that taste is a refreshing chill down her throat- a shiver that runs across her skin- that trickles through her body and behind that cold there's a phantom warmth that dwells in her heart.

God, Amber swallows, her throat suddenly dry. The raspy lilt was not that of a thirsty man, or a wannabe that pushed way too much grunt into song. This was pure effortless sexiness from an inborn voice.

Something any woman wouldn't mind waking up to hear. A growled good morning, masked with sleep.

But his delicious voice isn't the only part of the package deal.

The face that greets her is one not particularly Greek-sculpture perfect. It's not a look that would make her sap endlessly about the symmetry of his nose or the sharpness of cheekbones, airbrushed by some kind of foreign artist from the Baroque period.

Nah, lusting over marble isn't really her thing.

This was thick, low set brows on the softer facial features seen in Asian man afflicted with the gene that prevented the loss of baby fats. Not that he looked anything like a kid.

The slight softness was topped off with teasingly sharp jawline that winked at her with the change of light. Eyes that curved, oval in shape and slightly on the smaller side of the spectrum of all human eyes, set into defined mono-lids which gives his eyes a rounded appearance framed by downward facing lashes.

Those were some thick ass lashes, mind you, which could possibly be a trick of skilful makeup application. The result of spamming eyeliner-Amber's not too sure because the makeup artist is way too skilful in this video- and pale lips stained a creamy red probably from the most recent NARs collection, blended to create a nice gradient from the inner part of his lips to the white of his skin.

His skin was nothing she's never seen. A common shade of pale seen frequently in the Korean male race where sunblock is a must have. His skin was the colour of milk in a saucer, maybe the white of the flesh of steamed fish, perky and soft.

Perhaps the most striking thing that caught her attention would be his hair.

Bleached so white it blended almost effortlessly with his skin, both the same shade of marbled paleness when flashed with a high beam. She digressed that the colour of his hair probably tended more to the side of strawberry white blonde, from the little shades of pink. Silver hoops twinking as he tossed his head back.

Honestly? Not really the face one would squeal over. His good skin and decent features bring himself up the rating from average to above average. A more broody looking face, that rests automatically in a gloomy expression when neutral.

She could continue on with imperfections, but really Amber believes this to be personal preference. It really depends on the individual on whether the size of his eye was considered too small or if his lips were too thin.

To Amber, Yoongi was not a Greek God. He was, however, an Iced Americano with steamed milk. A rich bitter flavour, lingering aroma of coffee and that little hint of caramel sweetness your mind tricks you into tasting even though there was no sugar involved in its creation.

In simpler non-coffee terms, the man exuded charismatic sexuality brought on by just a lazy tilt of his head and the moody hunch of his shoulders.

In other words...

Min Yoongi was freaking hot.

Maybe the 4K HD TV wasn't so bad after all.

She watched, transfixed as he tilts his head to the side, fingers on bloodstained lips which stretched teasingly, almost seductively, a rosy pink tongue flickered out to wet dry lips-

"Making you drip like a faucet with just the flick of my tongue~"

"Ambrosia! Turn off the TV and eat your breakfast! That definitely didn't sound PG13!"

"Aw come on!" Amber huffed. " I'M NOT 13! I'M 19!"

"Y'all screaming at my dirty rap. Oh f*ck sorry, Mom~"

Fitting lyrics. Amber scoffed. And just when the dude was rapping in English too. The universal language of worldwide understanding.

Also conveniently one of the seven languages her life-giver understands.

"AMBROSIA!"

Amber cursed under her breath, sitting up quickly and reaching for the controller that had slipped out of her grasp. Her thumbs slowly hovered over the red button and her eyes followed the body of the rapper on TV.

Damn it. Stop it.

She rammed her fingers into the red button effectively shutting off the TV and possibly ending the remote control's life.

Amber groaned, rubbing her face.

She should stop dwelling on fantasies. Stop thinking she even stood a chance with an idol. There was no way in hell Min Yoongi would ever fall for her. Nor would he even look at her. She was just the one in seven billionth person on the planet. Another small fry in the sea of overpopulation.

He would never stand anywhere close to her. Never hear her voice. Never remember her face. Never know her name.

None of the BTS members would that's for sure.

There was simply no chance that they would ever meet. They were from different worlds. Separated not only by space but by money.

Amber sighed, tapping on her phone and flipping on the application that revealed double digits that determined her current net worth.

She could never afford even the cheapest seat to their concert. Her savings washed away by art materials, dumb shit like resin, polymer clay and the occasional fake grass.

Sure she could beg to her parents, but the both of them were highly concerned over her less than healthy obsession with seven male foreigners that according to her Mom, shook their asses on stage and enticed girls with fake dreams of a perfect soulmate with pretty personalities and heaps of money.

Amber gets it. The videos bleached away their personalities. Like correction tape over a hastily scrawled 'oh shit' on the exam paper, what the fans saw were pretty pink versions of the idols. There's merit to her mom's words. The merit that her mind acknowledges but her heart refuses to accept.

Amber tells herself that there could be more to the pretty face and talent, probably darker secrets and maybe a twisted hidden personality that she would never learn to love.

Anyway, what right did she have to say that she loved them if she didn't even know how they were really like in real life, away from the camera? For all, she knew her love, could just be a warped form of adoration and respect mixed in with a dash of lust.

Amber doesn't know. She's never had a crush on someone before in her entire life and she swears that this adoration to the members in BTS was the closest she would ever get to a full-blown crush.

Amber's more of a silent, anonymous fan that sits behind a keyboard dispelling bad rumours and negative comments that body shame, insult and rip apart at feelings. A keyboard fan that tries to help so that in the event any of the boys were to scroll through the comments in their feed, at least they wouldn't be as attacked by these words.

Amber's happy just by doing these little things.

Besides...Amber took a savage bite into her bread, the sugar crystals sticking to her lips, some falling to the floor. Next week she would be getting her soulbond. Her destined one. The piece to her soul and the person she would fall irrevocably in love with.

Her eyes drifted to her mother's back.

Her Mom? A translator who met her father, a SoulBond researcher, colleagues in the same company. Both were fooled by fate as one of the unlucky few whose soulbonds were undetectable or difficult to identify.

Soul beam. In which the more time you spend with the love of your life, the brighter their skin would glow.

Her mom describes it as fireflies that glimmer softly in the dark or the soft glow of stars in the night sky.

Her dad would launch into a full science lecture about the chemistry and the connection of particles around the air to create energy that emitted the light. Or something along those lines. Ambers not too sure.

It was difficult for her parents to find each other because most of the time they would be seeing one another in a bright office setting with wide windows that allowed the infiltration of the afternoon sun. Suffice to say, it took a while for both of them to realise they were soulmates. The solution involved a faulty lock on a cleaning closet and a clumsy pair of feet.

Amber doesn't know what she wants.

The general understanding was that your soulmate could be found close to your environment. Science engineers found love in science industries. Teachers paired up with teachers. Chefs with servers. Classmates with classmates. Neighbours with neighbours.

Fate was kind in that sense.

Still, long distance was not unheard of. There had been instances of tourists meeting the love of their lives on a trip. People finding their soulmate on social media, streaming sites, tv dramas even in the movie theatre.

Nevertheless, Amber was a normal girl in an average school of average intelligence. Her grades pushed up by hard work and sleepless nights, making her marks a tad higher than the average student. Her passion was in the arts, that was for sure.

But not the performing arts, let alone the music industry.

Amber hated attention, hated being put on the spot. She combusts easily in front of a crowd, her cheeks burning so red a thermometer to her head would read at 38.5 degrees Celsius. A great way to skip school.

This means that the chances of Yoongi being her soulmate were so close to zero you would have to peer through a microscope to see the space between her fingers.

Amber shook her head.

It doesn't matter. Stupid fantasies didn't matter. All that mattered was her soulmate. Reality.

She wants a nice soulmate. Someone who would encourage her love for the arts not shoot it down. Someone who could understand her and would accept her for who she is.

Even the part of her that doesn't love him but loves a group of seven male idols.

Amber sighs, finishing the last of her breakfast and licking the sugar crystals off her fingers.

Next week, one second after the time of her birth, she would get her soul bond. Sealing her fate forever in a twisted world of arranged marriages and fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love reverse harem. It's not a new concept in human history, and to this day some cultures still practice it. It's even more common for harem. I have a couple of good friends who are legally allowed by law to have 4 wives. 
> 
> My obsession started with Twilight. I just couldn't stand the thought of Jacob being tossed aside like trash. Like why choose when you can accept all? 
> 
> This fanfiction is actually an original fic. I admit I did want to write it as a BTS fanfiction because BTS is what fuels me to continue typing at my computer. 
> 
> But as I wrote, I realized that my own mind was spinning lies and fake fantasies about them that I was starting to believe. I started to think that whatever I read online about BTS was true.
> 
> EG: Yoongi cursing a lot and being the meanest. 
> 
> It's not. That's the thing. Us ARMYs will never know their true personalities and so I decided to upload it as an original fiction on Wattpad/Tapas.io.
> 
> But then, I showed the fic to one of my buddies (a fellow army who got me into BTS) she loved it so much...(Hot scenes are her fav) she wanted to read it with BTS names so...
> 
> I'm posting this up here for her.


	2. Sea Salt Caramel

The coffee is warm in her hand. So hot that the heat radiates out of the corrugated cup at an almost unbearable temperature. Amber stared blankly at the pavement, watching the rain wash away dirt and dead leaves that spiralled and swirled down the drain.

She crossed her legs, taking a sip from her cup. The taste is cloying bitterness that leaves a horrid gritty aftertaste that makes her gag slightly. Amber pursed her lips setting the hot acid down onto the table.

The coffee tasted like what she pictured ditch water would taste like.

She should have just made her own mix in the morning. A concoction of way too much condensed milk with coffee, a thick hearty sludge that made her body scream "TYPE 2 DIABETES!" but her tongue sing with praises.

"Amb!"

She glanced up barely seeing a blurred flicker of her best friend's newly coloured red hair and she's tackled with the familiar sweet smell that reminds her of clean linen and soft comforters. It reminds her of afternoons lying on the grass watching the sky and the sound of joyous giggles.

"MiRi!"

Her mood lifts and genuine joy erupts from her being as she watched the smaller girl ease into the opposing chair after a hug that lasted a good 5 minutes. Her lips tilt upwards as she observed her best friend fumble about with her bag. She's dressed so stylishly, Amber could scarcely believe it was the same girl.

A year ago she would have been dressed in dull single coloured t-shirts, long pants and the same worn out shoes. Now, her best mate's accessorized. Something she's never expected to see. A black beanie over her head paired with an ultramarine jacket and leather boots. A band of gold with a single black gem wrapped around her ring finger.

Then she's pulling off her hat revealing a messy floof. MiRi's rusty red hair dragged into a scrunchy, a few strands having escaped the holds of the worn out pink with a badly embroidered 'Amb's BFF' on the surface.

Amber laughs at the familiarity, standing to ruffle her besties hair a bit more before sitting back down.

MiRi was her best friend from her preteen days. She's counted and this is their eighth year of being besties. They had been stuck at the hip, hugging for days, so close she was sure her teachers thought them to be soulmates.

It's only when MiRi gets her soul bond, way too early to be normal, that shit gets real.

Amber grimaced at the memory.

MiRi has the flicker bond. Usually, the older of the two soulmates has to wait for the younger one to reach the age of 20 before the soulbond activates, but this was not the case for MiRi.

Deok-Su's four years older than them, lives in South Korea and was the 'luckier' one of the two in the flicker soul bond. Her cute and innocent MiRi had flickered into the bed of 20 year old Deok-Su a day before their mid-year exams. According to MiRi, it had been a morning of repeated screaming and pillow bashing on her part. The poor Deok-Su had frantically tried to use extremely broken English in an attempt to explain that he had not kidnapped her.

That week had been hell, a whirlwind of trial and errors, with MiRi flickering right beside Deok-Su the minute she too far from him in the most awkward of situations and the both of them falling ill when they're apart for too long. It was painful but MiRi had to leave and take classes in South Korea. The flicker didn't act up when they had sufficient cuddling each day.

Amber winced. There was once when MiRi appeared right smack in the middle of Deok-Su's meetings. The man was a genius music producer who worked for big name companies under the guise of the name RibidK. MiRi appearing in her old pyjamas right in front of some of the world's richest music CEOs had not been fun.

Amber remembers weeks of MiRi's tearful homesick sobs that later turned into shy girly giggles and dreamy looks of love. The tears still come sometimes but Deok-Su was the kindest male she's ever met. The things he's done for her are endless but the one that strikes Amber the most is when he had spent long nights studying English till 4 am in the morning each day just to make MiRi's life better as quickly as possible.

Theirs was honestly one of the best soulmate stories she's ever heard.

Now with a ring on her finger and the brightest of smiles on her face, MiRi looks so happy she might just start spitting rainbows.

"Deok-Su's bought me this hat and this jacket! It's the softest thing I've ever worn Amb! He's so so so kind! The other day he drove all the way to get my favourite soup dumplings. You know? The kind we both like with thin chewy skin. He drove all the way to _Myeongdong_ just because I said I missed it. You know it was just an offhand remark I wasn't even serious!"

Amber nods, smiling softly as her lovesick best friend prattled on endlessly as if it's the first year of their relationship but really they've long passed their third anniversary.

"Oops sorry." MiRi pauses, laughing softly. Her sweet airy voice was light and pretty to her ears. MiRi's the kind of person you expect to be dressed in pink and pastel, she's all soft and fluffy. The cutest person she's ever met. But too bad society, stereotypes are always far from reality. "I forgot myself. That's probably not what you want to know."

"Naw," Amber drawls, emphasizing on the 'W' just because she can. "I'm a fanfiction author trash. That sounds like a good romantic scenario to me." She winks at her and MiRi gives her an amused look.

"You're not writing lemons about me are you..."

"Um, excuse me!" Amber splutters, giving MiRi her best disgusted expression. Tongue out, spasming left eye and all. "That's flipping disgusting!"

Lemons, the connotation for basically literary porn on fanfiction. Also, Amber's guilty pleasure. Not that she'll ever admit it.

"Wait let me guess," MiRi taps her chin, "it's not me. You write lemons about BTS."

Amber swallows, attempting to hide the stiffness of her body at MiRi's words.

MiRi smirked, her grin growing wider as she gives Amber her famous I-got-you-you-stupid-shit look.

MiRi continues, effortlessly switching to Korean, a language that Amber says she learns for MiRi but really she's learnt it more for her idols.

_"Even worse. You write slash fics of all the members paired with each other. Let me guess, the maknaes (younger members) bottom while the hyungs (older members) top."_

Amber choked on her saliva wheezing. She takes a swig out of her coffee and the disgusting thing was so hot it brings tears to her eyes. She gives MiRi her best what-the-flipping-shit look but her reddening cheeks that are exactly the same shade of MiRi's new hair gives her naughty deeds away.

Honestly, those fanfictions were just fantasies...Just harmless thoughts shared to a specific target audience online. Besides, it's not like the BTS members would ever read it. It's in English after all and only two of the members can speak it fluently.

"You  _yaoi_  fangirl!" MiRi cackles and Amber blows air out of her pouting lips. Her best friend, while small and adorable in looks and voice was secretly extremely evil.

"Urgh...MiRi stop teasing me okay? I'm thirsty like that because unlike you I don't have a hot dude warming my sheets every night." Amber huffed and MiRi's cheeks pinked at her words. Aw...So they did have sex every night.

Dang.

Amber mentally completes the Ice Bucket Challenge to her subconsciousness in an attempt to douse the rising thoughts of her naked best friend and a naked Deok-Su.

Bouncing in the bed.

Damn it. 

Her phone buzzes and Amber swipes on the cracked screen grateful for a distraction. The old thing had been with her since 2014 and while battered and bruised having survived the apocalypse called A-Clumsy-Teenager. Amber's a little too attached to change it. That and her wallet's too starved to be capable of vomiting out that much cash to replace it.

Her eyes linger at the notification panel, pupils widening at the familiar heart symbol.

 

 

> BTS (방탄소년단) WHERE ARE YOU 어디에 'SIGN' Comeback Trailer

 

Her heart flutters in almost anticipation and she glanced up to look at MiRi. Her lips stretching into a smile without her knowing it.

"BTS just released their new comeback trailer!"

"Oh now?" MiRi's eyes widened and checked her own phone. She beamed brightly. "I want to watch it too! Deok-Su co-wrote the melody. " MiRi clambers over to her and perches herself on the armrest of her chair as MiRi hastily clicks on the play button, quickly increasing the volume.

The screen flashes and Amber's eyes are blessed by the image on her phone screen. It's reminiscent of  _Salar de Uyuni_ , the salt flats in Bolivia. What she sees reflecting into her eyes from the pixels of her phone is a flat plain of water that reflects the sky perfectly, mirroring white fluffy clouds. Sticking out tall from the bed of water are ornate white pillars that teamed with huge roses at its tips and dripped with teardrop-like crystals that reflect the light of the sun.

The camera pans in close to a lone figure at the centre, who is dressed in a long sleeved white shirt that puffs out slightly, an indication of the loose lightness of the material. In contrast to its softness, layers of beaded crystals were draped over his shoulders, like an intricate spider web that glimmered with dew. Black skinny jeans clung tightly to his hips held in place by a loosely strung black plaited rope with leather shoes on his feet.

Amber flicks her tongue out subconsciously wetting drying lips.

The face that greets her vision is that of a doll's.

Unlike Yoongi, Jimin is characterized by a sharp jawline framed by high cheekbones that cut flatly down a small face and close in to form a thin and rather sharp chin. Soft ashy blonde locks artfully dusted the tips of thick brows the hazel hues in his hair bringing out the tiny reflected redness of each gem that is draped over his body.

From memory, Amber knows that when this boy smiles. The flat cheeks transform into little adorable puffs of pink-tinged rounded lumps.

Jimin's cheeks are Mochi. Chewy and soft yet thick and heavy to the bite. Mochi sticks to your teeth but melts and tears apart easily with saliva and Amber has the mental image of taking a bite out of his smiling cheeks just for fun.

The idol tilts his head up, huge eyes meeting the camera head-on into a deep stare that reveals whisky brown contacts. This was not perfect almonds on a bed of white soft mochi. This was a droopy shape that Amber can only describe as a slanted rectangle without the harsh edges of angles and cuts. Long lashes slant downwards, brushing against pale cheeks as he blinks.

His eyes are Amber's second favourite part about him and when he smiles, they curve into little moons of happiness with little pouches of fat underneath those eyes.

Smiling eye bags.

Something many Asian girls have gone under the knife for.

And this male specimen has it naturally with the perfect amount of fat and angle, like the marbled meat of A-grade Japanese Kobe Beef.

This was an A-grade male specimen.

But this music video bears no hint of the soft sunny vibes of his smile.

Rather, his slightly flat nose, not too sharp yet not too squished, is brushed and contoured to appear sharper than it is. The soft rusty chocolate shades of eyeshadow melt into a line of soft hazelnut brown that emphasizes on the shape of his eyes and when he purses his lips, Amber's heart races so fast it almost hurts.

Those lush plump dollops of red remind Amber of pink lined marshmallows. Makeup gives them a perfect red to a pink gradient, shimmery with gloss that makes it look much more softer and much more kissable. Amber's face warms at the thought and when his eyes droop a little lower and he tilts his head a little higher.

His gaze is seductive, yet sad.

Standing before her eyes is a prince decked in crystals, with the prettiest and plumpest heart-shaped lips.

If he weren't in BTS, Amber swears he could be a model. A lip model.

Still, Amber is probably shrouded by the hearts in her eyes because the hate comments online for Jimin is always about everything she loves.

He looks like a kid.

He looks girly because of his huge eyes, plump lips and smaller frame.

He looks fat because his cheeks are plump and bulge when he smiles.

Stupid people hating on things Jimin should never have to feel self-conscious for but instead, love and appreciate because to Amber these were the features that made him unique and beautiful.

"Jimin's so pretty isn't he?" Amber vaguely hears MiRi's voice chimed beside her ear. Her eyes zoned onto the aesthetic prince before her.

**_"Phantom whispers of your voice in my sleep~"_ **

As he begins to sing, it feels as if she's doused in something warm and sweet. Her whole body clenches and shivers in a good way. Goosebumps popping over her skin. The mellifluous tone of his voice is another different type of coffee.

**_"I see your shadow at the corners of my eyes~"_ **

Jimin's voice is a sea salt caramel latte. The first taste is the tangy scent of caramel, so sweet it dances across the tongue but then the hints of salt mellow out the sweetness smoothening the flavour to an almost savoury mouthful. The mellow sweetness of the drink coupled with the slightly bitter tang of coffee tricks the mind into thinking the taste is one of chocolate.

Then there are little chips of caramel chocolate bits and flecks of almonds that translate into the sinful grunts and little crackles in his higher than average voice.

The whole vibe of the song changes from that of an angel to that of an incubus as his lips stretch into a smile and his fingers crawl over his chest, body popping to the beat of the music.

**_"Am I a pervert for dreaming of skin I've not tasted on my lips~"_ **

Jimin is an enigma. Pretty and sweet like a prince. He's easily one of the cutest boys she's ever seen in her life. No one expected him to be a force to reckon with at sexual songs.

Something almost seems to snap within him when his eyes droop and his voice dips into a rumbled moan.

**_"I feel like a predator and you are my prey."_ **

The video flashes and Amber watched transfixed as the graphics switch to rain that pelter onto the surface of the lake, ripples obscuring the mirror of dark purple storm clouds.

Jimin has a blindfold over his eyes, his clothes were sticking to his skin from the wetness of rain. The thin fabric does nothing to hide the small hints of pink nipples obscured by the gems draped over his skin. The wet fabric clings to fibrous abdominal oblique muscles and the light bumps of newly forming abs. It dips into his belly button and rises slightly to reveal deep V-line muscles at the ends of his body.

It doesn't help that his hips are dipping into skilful thrusts that curve into steps that reveal the taut perkiness of his ass.

His dance moves were walking on a thin line between dancing and strip show, but for some reason, he manages to make every move a professional and artistic swing of hips.

"Oh f*ck me." Amber can barely stop the curse from escaping her lips.

"I knew you would say that!" MiRi giggles.

**_"Am I being punished for the sins of my previous life~"_ **

He bites his lips, teeth sinking into the soft muscles. Then he's spinning on his feet, jumping so high above the water as his feet swings underneath him. They sweep against the ground and droplets of water swirl around him creating an ethereal picture in the air.

**_"Did I fall so hard in love with you that I've done something unspeakable~"_ **

The video flashes and he's dragged underwater by invisible forces.

Amber's breath hitches at the sight of the merman. His fluffy locks are afloat and little bubbles escape his nostrils. His clothes below around him floating and swirling in the water. The necklace of gems glittering under the light.

The most beautiful sight would be the little ripples of light that caress his face, combing across his skin in waves and reflecting his eyes.

His body shakes and suddenly his mouth opens to let a burst of air bubbles escape. He claws at his throat and kicks his legs in a struggle for air. Amber sincerely hopes that it's a special effect scene because her heart squeezes so painfully at the sight she's breathless and dizzy.

**_"I'm drowning in need for you to be mine~"_ **

The video switches in between shots.

He's submerged at one moment, dancing in another and nose pressed to a rose in the next scene. The sheer stage design, choreography and videography are more than just beautiful.

It leaves Amber so awestruck, her mind can scarcely keep up with absorbing all the information.

This was a work of art led by an artwork himself.

**_"Save me from this pain, let me breathe again~"_ **

Amber's breath hitches as his voice soars into octaves higher than so many girls out there. Amber swallows as his voice climbs higher and higher reaching its peak. A peak that sends her body shivering with musical chills. His voice stimulating her brain so much that it encourages dopamine to flood into her.

**_"Show me a sign~"_ **

The video ends with the slow crawl of water over his beautiful face until it completely submerges him. His lips forming words. English words.

**"Let me have a taste of Ambrosia~"**

He gasps and the video cuts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up that this is an alternate universe. I won't be following the actual BTS history. I'm just using their aesthetics. 
> 
> I also won't be using the same songs as well...Why? Um...if I use any song lyrics at all it's in relation to the soul bond. I don't see the point of pasting in song lyrics that we all already know.
> 
> EG of a major change: Jin is now Japanese so that I can write stuff like a Hanami date (sakura viewing). HUEHUEHUEHUE. 
> 
> Cultural diversity is the best! Don't worry, I'll introduce them properly so that you'll remember who is from where.
> 
> I update faster on Tapas.io and Wattpad! :) But it's an original story there...


	3. Honey and Black Coffee

Amber sits stunned into a stupor. Her eyes staring blankly at the screen. Did she just hear that correctly? She doesn't even know that her mouth hanged wide open until she snaps it shut to look at MiRi.

The girl laughs, twirling with red strands of hair.

"I might just have given him inspiration with your name."

Amber's eyes widened. It doesn't help that blood pounds in her ears and the upper part and lower part of her body still burns from watching Jimin seduce the pants off millions of girls worldwide while slipping in her name.

To be completely fair, the word Ambrosia is not exactly hers to keep. It did tickle her fancy that her name was actually the reason for his usage in a twisted way of how fate works. Scratch that.

She might be relieving her horny ass with that soundtrack on repeat at this rate.

"YOU DID NOT!" Amber gaped at her. "HOW?"

MiRi laughs brightly. "All I told Deok-Su was: Hey don't you think Amber's full name is great as a song lyric? "

"SHUT UP! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO FEEL!" Amber groaned, plonking her head onto the table. "What am I going to do now? You and Deok-Su are ruining me for my own soulmate, damn it!"

Amber pointedly glanced up to look straight into MiRi's dark brown eyes letting her best friend catch a glimpse of the state of her cheeks. A shade so red it might as well be a tomato.

Don't get her wrong. Amber is happy, so deliriously happy that her body feels light and so full of energy.

"How am I ever going to feel a greater level of happiness for a boy saying my name?" Amber wailed, pressing her hands to her eyes in exasperation.

"Uh...When your future son says Mama?"

"That isn't even my name! That's the word MAMA!" Amber whined. "MiRi!"

"Oh fine, poor dear." MiRi chuckles patting her hair. "I'm a great best friend aren't I?"

"The best," Amber grumbled out.

"Aw, I'm surprised. I thought you would yell at me a bit more." MiRi giggles behind her palm, her ring winking in the light. Amber sulks at that thought, her love-starved mind grumbles about evil best friends who ruined people's future love lives. "I'm sorry but it was partially your birthday present."

"Because initially, as an apology, I wanted to get you this." MiRi fishes around in her bag and pulls out a neat little card. Amber frowns taking the thing from her and reading it carefully.

"Seoul Olympic Stadium? You know I hate sports, don't you? I mean, football ain't my thing-" Amber pauses when she flips open the card. The familiar name stared back at her in bold printed letters.

 

**B.**

**T.**

**S.**

**Listen to Me. World Tour. Category 1.**

Then the date of her birthday, January 19th, and a time, 7.30pm.

Amber doesn't even think. She sits looking at the tickets, blinking rapidly and just reading the words over and over again. Her heart swimming with emotions. Her mind flashing with emotions.

Amber loves BTS.

That was a fact.

It's not simply because she's physically attracted to them. Her love was more than just a lust for beautiful Asian men. It was never about their beauty.

It's partially their music. The lyrics that resounded so strongly with their own personal voices, the music that they sang with so much emotion that she can feel it even through a digital device after going through thousands of editing.

Most of all, she's fallen for them because of how hard they've worked to get to where they are today. She fell for how high they jumped as they danced, fell for how strongly they moved to the beat, fell for the boys who stood to dance despite being close to fainting.

They never gave up in pursuit of their dreams and that was what pulled Amber through so many cruel deadlines and harsh realities over the years.

Because if BTS could do everything and even more.

So could she.

"Hello? Did I just break you?" MiRi smiled at her softly and Amber finds her vision going blurry and her eyes heavy and wet with tears.

Damn it. She didn't want to cry. Amber tries to suck the tears back in, blinking rapidly and smiling brightly at her best friend.

"You didn't have to. You shouldn't have." Amber whispers. Her voice breaks, heavy with emotions. Her mind flutters to all those nights struggling under the weight of stress. She's calmed herself down to the tunes of BTS's songs, laughed to their fan videos after spending hours weeping, slept to the sound of their voices like a lullaby.

Their music has always been the remedy to many things...Stress, Anger, Sadness, Depression.

To listen to them live would be a dream come true.

"Of course I did." MiRI laughs taking her hand. "You've helped me so much over the years and I just wanted to do something for you, you know? So I asked Deok-Su to get me two tickets directly from BigHit Entertainment. Ya know, since he's their music producer he's got a leg up to these kinds of things. He basically just said he wanted to watch BTS's concert with his wife and they handed him the tickets with a word of thanks."

"Oh wait. It's Deok-Su's tickets? I shouldn't-"

"Calm your tits, my girl." MiRi giggles at her flustered expression. "Deok-Su's got a business meeting in Australia on that date. He said it's your birthday present from him. A thank-you-for-taking-care-of-my-wife ticket."

"Aw you guys." Amber's voice crackles, wet with tears and she sniffs as her nose clogs up with tears. She could feel them, warm wet and sticky crawling down her face. "You're too good to me."

"Oh my gosh. Don't cry." MiRi laughs, wrapping her arms around her gently rubbing soothing pats on Amber's back.

"I'm happy. You know that." Amber garbles, tears wetting MiRi's shoulders.

"I thought I would finally hear you scream." Amber could hear the smile in MiRi's words. "I didn't expect waterworks. You're such a cutie, Ambs." MiRi giggles.

"I don't scream, you know that," Amber replied. "I mean I can, and I feel like doing it but...We're at a coffee shop MiRi! I'll look like I'm crazy!" Amber ends her words in a hiss, rubbing tear stains away with the corners of her sleeves. They part from their hug and MiRi pats her cheeks gently.

"Polite queen." MiRi ruffles her hair. "Although, I'm sorry that it's on your birthday."

Amber froze. She was born at 10.30pm, which was technically speaking, right after the concert. If anything were to happen like a teleportation soul bond, a flicker bond like MiRI's or worse, a body exchange. It technically should make it just in time for the end of the concert. Plus, if it were truly a body exchange. It didn't matter.

Her soulmate would just have to accept her love for BTS. She was done with trying to relinquish her love for those boys. They were honestly her rock in this turbulent world and she was sure that she would still be listening to the same tunes even with a lover at her side to calm frazzled nerves.

This love was simply just meant to be.

"I'm okay with it." Amber finally replies to MiRi. "If it really is body exchange," Amber gave MiRi a wicked smile. "You're the one who has to deal with it anyway."

MiRi giggles. "I promise to protect your body. I mean how hard can it be? In fact, with your love for BTS, there's a 50% chance dude might just be at the same concert."

"I wish." Amber replied, sipping at her chilling shit tasting coffee. She downs it in one gulp.

"There's no way that fate would be that good to me."

Famous last words.

❤

They arrive in Seoul on Thursday night via a business class flight on _Singapore Airlines_. The exorbitant price had sent Amber reeling and practically on her knees, desperate to persuade her bestie that a broke girl like her should not be worthy of such luxuries.

Plus, she could scarcely pay MiRi back for all that she would be forking up for her during the entire trip.

Cue empty bank sound. Well, at least whatever that sounded like.

Her bestie had declined with excuses like: 'There's no way you can get a cheap budget airline at this time!'-very true- and 'you think I would buy your tickets to a Seoul concert without buying your aeroplane tickets or booking you a hotel room? I'm not that stupid or evil!'

Trust MiRi to treat Amber's declines as an insult to her person.

The flight had been amazing. Amber had gorged herself on the business class lounge food even before she had stepped into the aircraft.

Amber calls it stress eating. MiRi calls it Amber-being-super-cheap-and-trying-to-eat-out-the-whole-cost-of-the-flight. Like the cheapo she was, Amber had hoarded all the freebies into her bag and consumed every on flight refreshment they could offer to her fat ass even opting for a few glasses of champaign.

Amber's pretty sure the steak they offered for lunch had been one of the best she's ever eaten in her middle-class life and it screwed with her mind that science supposedly proclaimed that tastebuds were supposed to be duller when on flights.

Now it gets her really wondering exactly how good that steak must have been on land.

After a thousand cups of apple juice and Amber taking a dump a good five times on flight to relief herself off the excess carbs. They touch down in Incheon Airport at midnight and speed off to the hotel in a black Porsche. That in which was driven by a burly Korean chauffer with a neck thicker than her thighs and biceps that were twice the size of her waist.

She's pretty sure he could snap her neck with just a flick of his fingers.

MiRi had flippantly explained the car to be one of Deok-Su's and the driver was there because Deok-Su didn't trust her driving skills. MiRi had scowled after that comment with a loud huff about paranoid husbands.

Amber has never doubted Deok-Su's fame as a music producer, but right now, with the obvious flaunt of wealth, it's safe to say he's richer than she expected.

So it's no surprise that the place of their stay is a five-star hotel with a Michelin-starred restaurant, a commonplace of stay for Deok-Su during business trips to Seoul. At this point, Amber could vomit from the amount of money they were spending with just this trip, not like she wanted to know. Ignorance is bliss and MiRi is an angel.

That and she's overflowing with apple juice and her bladder is bursting with too much pee so the minute they step into the lobby she's hurtling down the halls towards the toilet signs, too preoccupied with thoughts of pee to even step to the counter to check the bill with MiRi

Amber has no doubt that seeing the number would have definitely sent her pee flowing down her legs and all over the pristine white rugs.

She's pretty sure she would have woken up the entire hotel with the sound of her loud flailing stomps to the toilet if not for the thick carpeted rugs. At 3 am in the morning, she really doesn't blame the staff but the female toilet was shut with the 'cleaning-in-progress' board propped up.

Basically, Amber's screwed.

She's tried to enter. She's peaked in, in hopes that the signboard was a lie. Of course, it was not, and the toilet bowls were all ladened with bleach and sprayed with lime green cleaning liquid. If she didn't want to risk skin tissue damage she's better off not seating on that toilet bowl, especially with the BTS concert being so close to the date.

If she has to miss the concert just because she sat on a toilet bowl she would literally kill herself.

Honestly, a figure of speech but Amber's better off not risking it.

She dances outside the toilet, prancing around in a weird pee dance for a few seconds in contemplation as the other familiar stickman symbol stared at her with obvious judgement. The thing bored down at her ominously, like the clock in the exam room when there are 5 seconds left and she's scribbling squiggly unreadable lines across the paper.

God. Amber almost wants to scream in frustration if not for the fact that it's 3 am and she's in one of the most expensive hotels she's ever stepped into. Amber's more of a cheap deals girl. Her gotos are dingy little motels with rugs stained with yellowed liquids and pillows possibly drenched with human waste judging by its smell.

With no other option and her pee slowly dripping out of her, a quick glance into the non-existent eyes of the familiar stickman symbol sends Amber sliding into the boy's toilet which looked just as sparkly and clean as the entire place.

She dashes into an empty cubicle and slams the door counting down seconds as relief is finally achieved and her bladder sighs in sheer happiness.

Freedom. Said the Pee.

When you got to go, you got to go. It was honestly either this or the shiny waxed floors of the hotel.

When in the face of two great evils, pick the lesser evil.

Amber's new motto of the day.

As she wipes herself down ready to leave, the soft squeaky pads of flip flops on waxed floors echoes across the toilet as the door is flung open to reveal a moment of ambient hotel noise before it closes with a soft bang and the toilet is once again an enclosure of little happy piano tunes from the speakers of the toilet.

Oh shit. Amber froze, her breath hitching in her throat. She pressed her lips together in anticipation as the footsteps trail to the cubicle beside hers. Just her luck. The steps are light and soft but whoever was beside her cubicle was wearing cheap plastic on his feet and it made a horrendous squeak across the waxed floors.

The sound bounces and resounds around echoing with the soft piano keys that played from the speakers in the toilet, almost in time to the sound her racing heart.

Shit.

With bated breath, she waits for the sound of the lock. The minute she hears the clumsy snap of the metal against metal, she's tearing through the cubicle towards the taps (hygiene is still the key to health) shoving her hands under the automatic tap-

-Only to be met by a few seconds of awkward air hanging time.

If you photoshopped her out of the toilet, Amber swears would have looked like a joke. Thousands of internet trolls would have placed her with golf clubs and hockey sticks. Her hands slapped together and reached out in an almost exaggerated prayer, with her ass sticking out behind her like she's faking it way too hard.

Damn it, technology. She cursed under her breath and tries the next one but to no avail.

When she finally figures out the mechanics, she's met with sweet sweet bubbly flow of water and she furiously rubs her hands together. The water droplets spew out from her hands, spraying across her thick, baggy black hoodie. She's sure she's got half the water stream onto her jacket.

She's ready to make a run for it. Ready to escape the depths of male secrecy and take this secret to her grave only for a deep baritone to emit from the dreaded cubicle.

 _"Hello? Is anyone there? Sorry, but could you pass me some tissue?"_  The voice is low and crisp, heavy from possibly sleep. It's the kind of natural deepness that Amber has troubles guessing his age by just his voice alone, especially with her mind frantically switching to its Korean filter.

Amber swallows. Her mind spinning but her kind feet is already moving towards the cubicle. Her fingers subconsciously pulling out wads of tissue from the dispenser. She knelt reaching downwards into the cubicle with her hands outstretched.

Mentally, the scaredy-cat side of her is cursing at her for her stupidity, because staying any second longer in this toilet might end her with a police complaint for harassment. The other side of her is singing angel praises for her guts and kindness towards this poor bare ass stranger.

No one likes to poop and find out there's no toilet paper. That's just horrible. The person on the other side must agree to this because he takes the whole wad from her quickly like the squirrel from Ice Age after his acorn.

Fast.

 _"Thank You."_  The guy replies sweetly and coupled with the deepness of his voice it's like dripping honey into a cup of well-roasted black coffee. Amber's a bit too frazzled to really give a detailed food description of his voice but that doesn't deny it's velvet beauty.

Or the things it does to her already exhausted body.

What she doesn't expect was for the toilet door to suddenly pull open. What a fast ass wiper, her traitorous mind comments.

For a second, her vision is engulfed by someone really tall and young. He was dressed in a soft white cotton shirt and black track pants, a black silky bathrobe wrapped around his shoulders. She spins away quickly only to be hit by his smell.

No, it was definitely not the smell of shit nor the smell of artificial air freshener from the toilet.

It smelled-Amber swallowed, her skin tingles at the scent-good.

Above that delicious scent is the soft warmness of his shampoo or body soap, subtle floral sweetness with berry notes and a woody undertone. Under all that is something she just can't quite put her finger to.

It's musky and masculine. Deep and spicy. It's something she's never smelled in her entire life and she could only describe it as the flare from Sichuan peppercorn, the sweetness of pine and maybe the aroma of roasting tea leaves?

God, whatever the hell it was, it was the best scent she's smelled in her entire life.

She wants to bottle that smell, take long sniffs and sell it by the dozens. Seriously, whatever that perfume was it was hella good.

Amber blinks a little dazed, feeling stupid because her mouth floods with saliva at the thought and she's so embarrassed she can't bear to look at the guy because-

Was she becoming a cannibal or something? Why the hell is she salivating over a man?

Against her better judgement, because it's 3 am and she's stupid. Her idiotic mouth opens and she asks a really dumb question that should have revealed her gender.

 _"What did you use to make yourself smell so good?"_ Her Korean is a little misused and her voice cracks and dips at places which thankfully must make her sound like a prepubescent boy because the stranger doesn't react in angered shock.

Instead, there's a pause and a low chuckle. The kind that is crackly like a warm fire, rich and spicy like Manuka honey. A chuckle that sends her head swimming and her face heating up because it just sounded that good to her horny body. The sound burns and twirls into a fire that sinks well below her waist.

 _"Body Soap?"_  The faceless male figure replies. Faceless because Amber's still staring downwards away from his eyes or face. It's not too good to stare someone down, especially if you look extremely girly and you stand in the man's toilet.

Then he blurts out a familiar house brand that Amber knows should smell of Lavender and should explain the floral sweetness that masks the original delicious scent.

Amber dazedly watches as he continues to struggle with the tap, swiping his hands under the sensor over and over. His long limbs, however, definitely made his awkward poses less ugly as hers must have looked minutes ago.

She can't help it. Part of her, kind and loving, urged her to take a step to help him. The other part was eager for another sniff. Just one more before they part ways and never meet again. So she steps forward and quickly takes his hands moving it to the perfect spot for the sensor to take action.

What happens next is nothing she can ever imagine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliff hanger! JK! I'm updating the next chapter immediately. HEHEHEHEHEH
> 
> Final disclaimer that this is actually an original story on Wattpad/Tapas.io that IS inspired by BTS. I think you can totally tell from my descriptions of their voices and looks.
> 
> Although I'm making it a point to change it up a little with descriptions of extra moles/freckles/scars...
> 
> What this means is that :
> 
> 1) If you read on my Wattpad, in which I update faster (because I update every 1000 words instead of an entire full chapter like I do on AO3), I changed their names. So the BTS boys are actors in my story?
> 
> TBH I write with the changed names...It kind of acts as a personal reminder that I'm writing fiction and not reality. 
> 
> 2)I will NEVER discontinue this story...Because it's an original story so I plan to publish it one day on Amazon along with the other reverse harem authors in the world. (I will probably get an editor...WHEEHEE I love reverse harem)
> 
> Well, I hope this clears up everything...If you don't want to learn new names...XD Just wait a lil I'll update soon!


	4. Ice Cold Water

Amber's electrocuted herself once. She had accidentally touched open wire while trying to fix the wiring of a desktop in school. Her muscles had clenched and spasmed in protest, an oddly painful sensation that sends her nerves into shock and her body stiff from the sudden attack. A buzzing sensation that she never wants to experience again.

This was nothing like that.

This was a sudden jerk to her senses as if she had always been underwater, submerged in beds of cotton drenched in alcohol. It was like a burst of pleasant energy accompanied by little pleasurable shivers that spread across her skin. Kind of like the sudden gush of energy after a short sweaty afternoon jog that you get after a morning of sleepy drowsiness fuelled by hours of lectures.

It lighted an inner warmth she's never known needed to be a lighted, a soothing heat that quells all her feelings of anxiety and fears. It was like taking a sip of hot chocolate in front of a crackly fire after hours outside in a blizzard. It warms you inside, making cheeks pink and bodies tingle.

Sweet, warm and comforting electricity.

That's the only way she can describe the feeling that courses up her body in waves at his touch.

Electricity.

She's feeling all that within that mere second of their touch and it elicits a gasp from her lips, mirrored by a sharp intake of breath from him.

In her moment of shock, her eyes automatically snap up to meet his and what greets her is a familiar face that she only sees on TV screens.

A bared face boy with soft white-blonde locks, slightly wet and frizzy from a recent shower stared down at her. Some strands of his hair were slightly stuck to each other from beads of water and darker at certain areas where new hair grew.

His hair stood out cutely in a messy rumple of sharp wet flops and spikes. His hair was parted in the centre, brushed to gently cover thick dark brows that while well-shaped and possibly threaded were larger and thicker than most Asian men.

It was paired with one of the most aesthetically shaped noses Amber has seen in her life of online images and youtube videos. He had a higher and sharper nose bridge than most, a little bulky at the centre but nothing that sullied his handsome face. His looks were coupled off with a chiselled, heart-shaped face, not too thin nor too soft.

Just right, would be what Goldilocks would say if she ever saw such a male specimen.

His face was, topped off like chocolate shavings to ice cream, with rose pink lips on the thinner side and a little beauty mark at the corner of his right eye, a small dark brown dot. Lips that were soft and a little shimmery with moisturizer or saliva. Amber couldn't really tell because at that moment with his lips parted like this to reveal peaks of squared teeth, his tongue darted out quickly to wet drying lips.

What scared her the most, or rather, turned her on the most were those beguiling, doe-shaped eyes framed by dark lashes that were angled downwards and inlaid with dark brown orbs. Eyes that were a chocolate brown but yet just light enough for her to see the slight change in colour to pupils that were dilating slightly. They bored into hers, flickering with a variety of emotions as her eyes darted across his features so fast she's sure she must have looked a little crazy, like cartoon characters with swirls in their eyes.

At that moment Amber's noticing things she never knew, like how one of his eyes has more crease than the other folding into lids of the skin or how fine and pale his skin was save for the little impurities, pink scars of adolescence at his left cheek. Maybe it's the way his eyes glistened from the bathroom light with sleepy tears or how one side of his lashes is shorter than the other. Then it's the fact that he's actually really tall despite the flip flops, towering over her by a good head and to be honest Amber's not that short in the spectrum of Asian women heights.

Suffice to say. He was the most ridiculously handsome male she's ever seen in real life and he was staring at her with such burning intensity she's sure she might combust. It's the same look on his face when he models for photos, a smouldering look that conceals his emotions.

Emotions that swirl deep within those brown orbs as they dart across her face. Pupils dilating and focusing again and again.

Then she's realizing more than just that. Maybe the closeness of their faces, the soft exhales of his breath that drifts to her in minty toothpaste wafts. The way his eyelashes flutter over his cheeks when he blinks.

Even better was the light flush of pink on his cheeks that stained the pale beige hue in a pretty rose. The colour travels to his ears to blossom is a stunning red.

Absolutely adorable.

The spell is broken by the sudden rush of cold icy water on their palms as the sensor, finally decides to work and the both of them jerk away. She's flinching back, stepping one huge awkward step away from him. Her legs parting like the red sea.

The sudden loss of that pleasant energy is like a cold slap to the face. It's the sudden replacement of chillness that sends her longing for more and she resists the urge to wrap cold fingers around her arms.

One huge step that elicits a smirk from him, a smile that turns her legs to jelly and her heart beating so hard she fears it might escape from her chest.

It's the smile that kills her nerve and reminds her of the current situation.

Then she's turning and dashing away as fast as her little legs could carry her as her mind blasts his name loud and clear like the loudspeaker they use on sports day. It's just her luck that the elevator door is open and MiRi's directing their chauffeur in with their luggage, her battered and peeling pink and MiRi's own bright polished lime. She's hurtling through, pulling MiRi along and as she watched the elevator door slam shut she sinks to her knees right onto the carpeted floors of the elevator.

MiRi's alarmed, shaking her repeatedly in question. But Amber doesn't even register her words in her mind because her mind is filled with a single name.

Kim Tae-hyung

The baritone singer of BTS. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoohoooo thank you AO3 for making gifs possible. Sexy Tae on repeat is just AJFIWFORNEFOVOIEFPKPWKFENVVEMVIRMPERKFEJONVE *cue brain explosion*


	5. Yellow Tang Fish

When Amber finally decides to admit her sins the next morning, the hotel room was filled with crazed shrieking from one extremely excited MiRi.

"GOD AMBER! YOU'RE SO FREAKING LUCKY!" MiRi shrieked, jumping up and down on the bed. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU MET KIM TAEHYUNG, like THE V OF BTS? GOD! YOU LUCKY B*TCH! "

"I knowwww." Amber groaned, her voice trailing off into a sad little wail.

"AND," MiRi flips around, waving the hair curler in the air like a weapon, "instead of asking for an autograph or a picture...You ran like he was a demon after your soul?"

A nod from Amber sends MiRi into her signature 'I am disappointed in you' posture. Featuring a palm to her forehead, an exaggerated slouch and a long groan. She's shaking her head as she curls her red locks into natural waves. "My dear best friend of mine," MiRi's voice is deep and solemn. "What have I taught you all these years."

"Stop rubbing my dumb decisions into my wounds..." Amber wailed as she hooks on dangling strings of fake crystals to her ears, a one dollar earring steal from TaoBao.

She's looking pretty classy if she does say so herself. Her short pixie bob, a necessary decision after accidentally splashing her hair with resin, was not like the hair of other girls. For one, it didn't conceal the earrings at all, revealing them proudly and allowing the maximum amount of light to reflect off each cheap crystal bead.

To be honest, Amber had sobbed buckets from having to practically shave off her long locks. She has many insecurities. Her squared face with it's puffy cheeks, the tips of her ears that naturally turned upwards like that of an elf. The fact that her upper lip was slightly larger than the bottom one. The flat button-like squish of her little nose.

All of this was emphasized by the shortness of her hair, revealing everything and basically anything on her face.

Without her friends' praises and words of love, she would have never been so confident about her new look and now she rocks it like a champ.

Fate was kind to her, honestly, without these short locks, Taehyung would have immediately sent her to jail. Thank God the male race didn't differ that greatly from females.

"But that part about how his touch feels good...Are you sure it's not your 3 am horny brain messing with your mind?" MiRi breaks her out of her thoughts with a laugh. Amber hummed, pursing her lips and swathing on moisturizer.

Cold countries plus dry lips? Never do that to yourself. Never

"I actually have no clue. It was weird, kind of like being electrocuted? But in a warm way."

"A warm electrocution, very apt Ambs." MiRi laughed at that. "Maybe it's those really strong static charges. I get that in cold countries all the time."

"Well, girl." Amber sighed, flaring her nostrils and pressing lips into a thin line. "I don't know...It was just a very weird experience. I guess that's the closest I'll ever be to my idols." Amber huffed throwing her hands back in exasperation.

She swears it was more than that. The heated look in his eyes was a clear indication that he had felt it too and she wasn't crazy or delusional. Then again maybe Taehyung was just magical and had magical pleasurable hands.

It would totally explain why fans spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to get a spot in their fan meetings. Those hands were like drugs, happy drugs.

"Fans will kill for that chance. I seriously can't believe you're so lucky and with all the right reasons too! Although I wouldn't blame you if you sneaked into the boy's toilet after seeing Sieon walk in."

Amber whipped around to glance at her in alarm.

"I swear I will never do that! Haven't you read the news of crazy fans dressing up as males and heading into the toilets to see their idol's junk? That's literally sexual harassment."

"True, you're too much of a chicken for such a bold ass move."

Amber stuck her tongue out at her. That meanie.

"It's okay my dear best friend." MiRi smiled at her serenely. "With your luck, you might just see him again. If Taehyung was as informally dressed as you say, there's a 99% chance that they're staying in this very building and so there's an equally high chance we might bump into them!"

Amber smirked at that, standing to giver her bestie a twirl.

"Thoughts?"

"You look like a bright beam of sunshine." MiRi smacked her lips together appreciatively

Amber's dressed in a deep cadmium yellow turtleneck that draped across her neck, a warm and woollen fluffy thing that makes her want to shove her face into it and never come back. Then there's the usual faux velvet and leather jeggings, with thigh high boots.

Everything on her was a cheap imitation.

"Ready for your last day of freedom?" MiRi beams. The girl is in her usual simple outfits. A cargo green jacket, black shirt and dark blue jeans. It's simple fashion made striking by the red locks that cascade down her shoulders.

Amber smiled. This trip would definitely be the best in her entire life.

"As ready as I'll ever be." 

❤

Their first stop is the Art Museum. It sits on the outskirts of the city that overlooks a stretch of tall towering trees, an hour drive from the hotel. This was the kind of place for budding new artists and gems in the rough. Not only did it display local works, but it also had an art store selling little trinkets and an entire level that sold affordable art pieces to the public.

It's clearly not as well known as the National Museum from the fact that there's barely anybody even though it's way past opening hours. She's surprised that it’s this unpopular even on a Friday but Amber guesses that a good portion of their usual customers are busy camping out at the concert venue for BTS or are still slaving away at work.

MiRi had slipped away the minute they arrive, proclaiming it to be Amber’s solo outing time and also MiRi’s much needed time to prepare for her birthday surprise. She had handed Amber the museum ticket and sped off in her Porsche with promises of a late lunch.

The minute Amber steps into the museum, she’s met with that distinctive museum scent that smells clean and cold. She would describe it as the rich smell of art, the hybrid scent of libraries, airports and museums combined. The entrance is lit by natural ambient light from the huge glass windows that line the walls and ceilings.

It’s nice to just look at artworks without having to over analyse them although Amber’s mind does automatically start to break down each work’s formal qualities. The museum starts off with more traditional pieces that later morph into sculpture and new media art. Works you generally expect to see in an art museum.

What she had not expected was the large ultramarine blue cloud.

The minute she stepped into the large airy area, a delighted gasp had escaped her lips and echoed across the empty space. This was long pieces of bright cobalt blue plastic flaps suspended from the slanting steel structure of the museum. When placed together in such a dense cloud, the curtain of blue shimmered like rain under the light of the afternoon sun. The colour dances, shifting and flickering beautifully like soft summer rain.

It reminded her of Venezuelan artist, Jesus Rafael Soto’s artwork “Penetrable”. 

A signboard at the head of the work confirms her suspicions. With a girlish giggle, something that rarely escapes her lips, Amber skips into the inviting stretch, pushing past the flaps of plastic.

It’s even more beautiful inside the work. The light reminds her of the ocean floor, cutting through the artwork in waves of lighter blue shades and white hues. The shadows of the plastic cover her skin in blue intricate curls that paints her skin in ultramarines and Persian blues. It was a brilliant contrast to her cadmium yellow outfit. The colours complement each other.

Bright yellow to blue. Amber’s pretty sure she must be standing out like a  _Yellow Tang_. A cute saltwater fish that is a brilliant lemon yellow hue.

The plastic is silky on her skin and Amber finds herself closing her eyes, spreading her hands out to just let it all brush against her body as she moves across the fields of plastic. It’s comforting, almost therapeutic to just run her fingers through the plastic. The light of the sun flickers across her eyelids translating into flashes of white under the red of her eyelids.

What she doesn’t expect was for her to actually catch something in this endless sea of blue.

A very tall, very warm something.

If Amber has her way, the collision would be soft and beautiful. With Amber throwing her hands in the most effeminate of distress gestures as she presses gently onto the warm body. It would be a little floof that could be easily brushed off with a quick word of apology.

Too bad because gravity is a b*tch and Amber is a clumsy female with two left feet.


	6. Less than a Dollar

Everything happens so fast.

At first, she’s just plastered cleanly onto the person. Her nose slamming painfully into the person’s very hard, yet velvety chest, squishing painfully as her nose bridge screamed in protest. Her teeth had clinked together from the force, incisors sinking into her lips painfully she swears it almost breaks skin.

She would have been the only casualty if not for the fact her leg had stuck out to meet his huge incoming step. A collision of long limbs that sends legs into awkward turns of knees and outward flips of feet. They both trip over each other’s feet, a tangle that sends him careening backwards and her shooting forward like a missile.

It’s all a haze after that. Amber remembers the world spinning and she doesn’t really know what happens except that when it finally comes to a stop, she’s lying on the ground in the most embarrassing of positions she could almost just die.

Die in his arms.

Amber’s head rests on his bicep. Her body is wrapped with his, legs entwined to straddle his upper thigh. This allows for her chest to be pressed to his, so close it’s more than just a casual hug. Her left palm is pressed to his chest, while her other arm hanging loosely over his body. It’s not even a friendly cuddle anymore.

This was limbs interlocked with limbs, bodies pressed against bodies. This was a lover’s embrace in bed.

Amber has never hugged someone of the opposite sex. She’s hugged girls all the time. Girl hugs were soft and warm with mounds of fat that would brush against her own. Girl hugs had the smell of sweet perfumes or feminine deodorants and the feeling of bra straps under her palms. Girl hugs featured long hair that tickled and brushed against her face.

The person she was hugging now was obviously a boy.

Amber’s face flamed at the feeling, heat licking and creeping up her skin. This was wide shoulders and hard muscles that rippled under her skin. This was a flat chest and velvet wrapped over steel. This was large long limbs that towered over her smaller frame.

She’s so close to him she’s engulfed by this absolutely amazing smell.

It’s clean.

Wrapped under that bubbly sweet scent of soap is a crisp clean scent that is even better than the museum’s. It’s definitely masculine. Amber’s nose twitches linking it to the sweet burn of fresh snow after a hard trek up a mountain, a subtle tang of wine without the sour notes or maybe the aromatic bitterness of cocoa. A sophisticated natural scent that wafts from him in soft waves.

What is with Korea and great smelling man?

Amber’s not too distracted by the smell at the moment because the very next second features a struggle as the both of them attempt to sit up only failing to do so when their legs protested at the double pressure of knees against knees.

With her small frame straddling his upper leg, it makes sense that his next course of action was to flip lanky legs over and push his body up in an attempt to shake her off.

The sudden movement was accompanied by her own frantic actions to push herself away from him only to fail as sharp painful tugs shoot across her left ear as she pulls. She has no choice but to follow his movements, laying on his body in an awkward yoga cobra pose and pressed to the flat and hard planes of a muscular chest.

Her head rests in the crook of his outer neck. Her breath escaping in short painful gasps at her every painful yank.

It doesn’t take half a second for her to register the fact that her earring is very clearly stuck to something on his person and very near to his face. She does another experimental yank and a rumbled groan emits from him. The sound vibrates up her body, a delicious growl that sends a shiver running up her spine.

She’s too flustered to really feel it at this point, her right hand trailing up to touch the cheap crystal hanging from her left lobe. She quickly finds that it interlaced with cool metal. A metal chain that is -Amber trails her fingers across the thick knot to reach soft cartilage and the feeling of silky hair under her fingers- his earring.

Damn it. How unlucky was she?

She cursed under her breath and it’s instinct to wrap her arms around his neck to try to untangle the mess that was their earrings. His breath hitches at her touch and she stammers out an apology as she struggles to untangle.

 _“Our earrings are stuck. Sorry, give me a second.”_  She murmurs lowly and it must have been her imagination because she thinks she could feel his body shiver at her words, his muscles tensing and flexing under her body.

She quickly realizes it’s futile to even try to untangle the knots and resorts to just pulling out the stopper that attaches the cheap plastic to her ear. It gives way easily and she instinctively pressed her fingers to his chest to push herself up.

There’s nothing much to look at. Honestly, 3 quarters of his face was covered up, even his hair was covered up. A black beanie conceals basically everything on his head, letting only short wisps of a dark blonde hair escape. The colour is too dark to be a proper blonde but too light to be a truly blonde hue. It’s more of an ashy dark blonde colour, a shade she’s pretty sure costs more than her entire bank account to dye.

His face is concealed by a black spongy mask that covers his lips and basically all of his nose. The only thing she could see beside his brows, well-threaded and thinner and longer than some, were his eyes. These were huge eyes. Monolids that curved in an almond shape that had a flatter base and were framed by thick but short lashes that curled outwards at the corners. It was almost fox-like in nature, all sharp at the edges.

What killed her the most were his pupils. They bored into hers deeply, rimmed with a light brown diamond shaped shards, clearly very expensive contacts. It’s curious, his gaze. His eyes seemed to speak to her, glittering and shimmering under the light. They stared deeply into hers as if looking at her very soul.

She pursed her lips and her cheeks pink, eyes widening as she realizes the full extent of how intimate their position was. Their faces were mere inches apart, her chest pressed tightly onto his. Fingers pressed to the hard velvet of his chest, concealed by a thin and soft cotton fabric that bunched easily under her fingers.

She’s very aware of how she’s straddling his upper thigh when he moves his knees upwards, feeling his quadricep muscles pull under her ass. She lets out a small eep and her knees move to get up, pushing forward repeatedly without thinking as she struggles to somehow escape from this situation.

He inhales sharply and his pupils dilate, blowing wider into dark abysses as a soft groan escapes his hidden lips. His entire body freezes under her skin and it doesn’t even take her more than a second to realize exactly what she did because…

His pants weren't exactly thick jeans. It’s soft sweats, cotton-like material that hides nothing.

And there’s something really hard pressing against her thinly covered knees. If she concentrates hard enough she could even make out the shape of the hard-

She pulls back, cheeks a flaming red and murmuring repeated apologies which he echoes back in his own stammers. She flops to the side, pulling tangled legs out from his and finally they both manage to stand. She stands up so quickly that blood rushes down from her head and her eyes green a little from the sudden loss of blood pressure.

Amber’s so embarrassed she doesn’t dare to look at him again. She bows quickly. 90 degree angled bows that make her back muscles protest. With her eyes almost teary with embarrassment she slides through the comforting plastic and away from the stunned boy, racing as fast as her legs could take her.

It’s only when she bursts out of the museum and heads to an area that looks out to large oak trees that she lets out an embarrassed muffled scream.

Amber’s pretty sure she just lost her knee virginity to another good smelling Asian male.

A Hot Asian male.

Amber let out another muffled wail into her palms, her face hot in her palms.

Why did this keep happening to her?

Her face crumpled as she fingered her very empty left lobe.

NOooooOOooooo

On the bright side, that thing cost her less than a dollar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first time I hugged a guy...It was for my performance art. (Go google if you don't know the difference between performing arts and performance art) We hugged for 5minutes and it made me realize that guys are really flat and really bony.


	7. Earrings

Kim Namjoon’s lucky.

He still remembers the times when he was just a nameless rapper, yelling words into a battered old phone with the most horrendous of sound qualities as he reads off lyrics from a glitching computer.

He always fights with his family over his dreams.

They’ve wanted him to follow the family trend. His family were all top tiered workers. Lawyers, Surgeons, Politicians. His mom had not stopped working even after his conception, hiring a nanny to care for him.

The worst of his family when he was young had been his cousin’s job as an accountant.

An accountant.

Namjoon really could not see why that was a bad job. Yet his cousin had been ridiculed, looked down on by the family and seen as the dirt on their leathered feet. They saw him as a failure, someone who would never earn as much money as them.

He’s seen that cousin clenching his fists under the table as his aunties passed to him heavy envelopes like charity service.

That very same cousin had turned on him the minute he voiced his trainee status as a rapper and suddenly he was the black sheep of the family.

They were all workaholics that rolled in wealth and fame.

It’s not like he lacked anything. Like the rest of his family, Namjoon was smart. His IQ, higher than the average citizen, was boosted by tuition from the best of centres. His childhood consisted of teachers and lessons on math and science. It was no wonder that the minute he stepped into official education he propelled upwards like a fighter jet in a competition for pigeons.

He remained the cream of the crop for the next decade of his life.

It was easy for him. Unlike the other students who started from rock bottom, he had always been afloat in the ocean of education, chilling on the inflatable bed above the waters as his classmates struggled to swim to the surface.

It’s just too bad he was born smitten for the arts.

So when he decided to not head for university despite scoring a number so high in his entrance examination that basically every door was open to him, his family had recoiled like oil against water.

It’s his mother’s soft heart that had kept him from the streets. He was, after all, their only child. He’s written a lot of songs about his feelings on the matter, countless scribbles and typed letters. Now with the success of BTS, he could diss and make fun of everyone who had criticized him for his actions.

He liked to curse at them with words like 'heartless money-making machines' or 'steel robots that painted themselves in gold but had hearts of dirt'.

It still hurts when his aunties made jabs at him for his lack of a soulmate.

On his 20th birthday, he had been all smiles. Heart racing with anticipation, stomach fluttering with butterflies, honestly it was just the tension of his stomach muscles, raised sensitivity from anxiety creates the feeling of fluttering. He had woken up to nothing. No soul bond. No weird mark on his skin.

Absolutely nothing.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Not everyone gets their soul bond on their 20th birthday, it just meant his soul mate was someone younger than him. That’s all.

Still, disappointment clung to him like a cloud as the years passed and he grew older. He tried to reason to himself, saying that fame would make it hard for relationships and he should be thankful for the time given to him to mature enough to be careful when he actually gets his soulmate.

As he aged, his relatives started whispering to each other. Namjoon lumps it to their jealousy for his success and fame. Their own bitterness led to envious jabs at him. They talked about how his failure in his career led to the fates deciding to not gift him with a soul mate of his own. About how he sinned on stage, a trickster who spun dreams for millions of women.

The harshest came from cousins of his age who laughed at his makeup and the rings on his ears. They called him a weak sissy. A gay f*cker with his pretty girly get-ups and use of beauty products. He had nothing against homosexuals. Still, the way they said it hurt. It hurt him like poison in his mind.

It’s why Namjoon rarely wears earrings. He’s not like Taehyung or Jimin who sometimes docks themselves in pearled earrings and jewelled necklaces. Namjoon sticks to simple hoops and more manly jewellery most of the time when he can.

He doesn’t know why he wore metal chained earrings today.

It’s a day before their concert.

It’s nothing they’ve never done. Another world tour for their fans. Fans that he appreciates very much. He’s nothing without them, nothing but a man screaming words that should mean nothing to anyone else except himself. He owes them everything.

Namjoon is famous. He’s not a newbie to fame. He’s been balls deep in it since he was 18 years old and it’s been five years of hiding from crowds and paparazzi. Five years of masks and glasses, bodyguards and security.

He’s used to it and frankly speaking he finds it endearing to be so dearly loved by so many. Still, stress eats at him at the thoughts of possible failure and disappointment. The need to live up to the expectations of his fans is a strong feeling that burns in his chest and so after a morning of rehearsals. He opts to head to an art museum during their short break for a breather.

Distress. He says. While his members take naps and distress in their own little ways, he gets a small army of bodyguards to follow him to the local art museum.

He melts into the work with strips of plastic. It’s his personal favourite. The work swallows you whole and takes him to his quiet place where he can sit comfortably in his mind. He spends an hour in that work just stewing in his mind, contemplating about life.

He’s a deep thinker and he likes to think by himself sometimes, tapping on his phone when lyric inspiration hits him. He was about to leave. It’s another hour before they start rehearsals again.

He never expected to meet her.

Namjoon’s tall. His legs were longer than most and he attributes it to the reason why he’s clumsier than most so it’s easy to trip over her feet. It’s even easier to catch her small frame and pull her into his embrace to break her fall. 

Namjoon is not a virgin. One night stands were things that came with curiosity and the lack of a soulmate. An angry night with too many bottles of alcohol had sent him into the embrace of another soulmate-less woman. The pleasure had brought him to more hookups.

It’s a thing he does with the older members of BTS. Frankly speaking, the virgins in the team weren’t the youngest member, Jungkook, the member was three years younger than him and had huge eyes that stared blankly into space. It was the reason why most believed him to be innocent. Still, Jungkook was not the virgin.

It’s funny enough, the oldest, Jin and the media-proclaimed sexiest, Taehyung.

Jin refused to wet his dick in a hookup, only because he said he’s abstained for so long he might as well keep it for his soulmate. That doesn’t mean Jin’s never obtained pleasure from a woman. Taehyung’s the purest in the entire group. He’s never touched a woman sexually despite being the best flirt. His only lover was his right hand. His reason?

He wanted his soulmate to be his first. Cute but kind of sad because he’s three years pass his soulmate age and with no soulmark, insight, Namjoon wagers he’ll have to wait a few more years before he can lose his virginity.

Now, with their rising popularity, it was much more difficult to find easy pleasure as they used to a few years back. If anything, the recent scandal where a prostitute had filmed a sleeping idol in bed confirmed their worries.

You could say that the sexual frustration in the group was at an all time high which would have been higher if not for the internet. Namjoon’s computer in his personal studio had been attacked by thousands of viruses from all the porn sites he watched with them.

Honestly, Namjoon’s thankful that all the members did not have their soulmates despite hitting the age pass 20. It’s a bad thing to be thankful for but he thinks having a soulmate would drive a certain wedge between them.

They were brothers in everything but blood. Still, jealousy was a strong feeling that could tear the closest of bonds and he didn’t want to try it any time soon.

The girl in his arms.

He hadn’t even looked at her face. It’s all just a soft warm body pressed tightly against his own, her breasts were warm mounds that radiated so much heat he could feel it even through so many layers of clothes.

Yet his body had clenched and shivered so violently with arousal he’s never been so worked up in his entire life. He’s more aroused than the bumbling 18-year-old virgin who was about to have sex, more heated than the first time he had seen his first porn video online. She had smelled wonderful.

He could smell the slightly bittersweet tang of coffee on her breath but her body emitted the most amazing natural scent. He felt woozy from just breathing it in, drunk from the delicious smell pressed up against his body.

It’s a feminine sweetness that reminded him of apples with a musky undertone that’s aromatic like crispy pie crust with little caramel chips. Really, it smells nothing like food but it’s just the closest thing his mind can link it to.

It does not help when she makes those small little moans. It was probably from the pain or the frustration, but his mind immediately dives right into the gutter and refuses to surface.

Her soft breath had tickled the nape of his neck and when she spoke.

The sound just paints an even more lovely picture of the woman in his arms.

It’s sweet and lower than most girls, it’s not the high pitch ring he is used to hearing in Korean women. This was dark chocolate dripping from her lips. His abdomen had burned with a pleasurable fire that roared in his veins. His very male organ stirring and throbbing at her words, dripping wet in his boxers. A shot of pleasure raced up his skin and it takes basically all his muscles to stop himself from shivering too hard.

His heart has never beat so fast and so strongly when she sits back to finally look at him. Physical attraction wrecking through his mind like a tornado.

Her hair was short, so short it rivals his own. She looked nothing like the average Korean women and he could see the South East Asian characteristics in her features. Honestly, at first glance, she wasn’t perfect. Her face is too squared for the society’s preference, her nose while small was a little lacking in a nose bridge.

Her eyes, however, were the prettiest he had ever seen. Her lashes were so long it fanned onto her face every time she blinked framing heavily lidded eyes that had so many creases it gives her a more exotic look. Her lips trembled, rosy and pink and round like rosebuds. Eyebrows a little messy, the tiny hairs growing out in different angles which she styles into a nice angle.

A doll. His mind supplies as her cheeks reddened into a shade he’s never seen on a human before. It does not help that her ears tip upwards like an elf's.

Namjoon colours at the thought.

A fairy. His mind suggests again as his eyes absorbed the colour contrast of the huge bright yellow turtleneck against the blue of the plastic. The colour was so vibrant it’s like a photo card in real life.

It doesn’t help that the single crystal earring hanging from her ears glinted and sparkled, reflecting light on her face and into her eyes. It turns black orbs into natural amber hues.

His mouth dries.

He wished he could snap a picture to make it last longer. He wished he could just freeze time right there and then and just…

Honestly, just make love to this work of art. God help him. Namjoon mentally groaned. He felt like a perverted lecher and he just met her.

He watched enraptured as her tongue flicks out to wet sticking lips. Then she does something unspeakable that kills whatever self-control he has.

Her knees rubbed against his crotch. The delicious friction sending spurts of pleasure up his body and forced his very horny male organ to harden painfully.

It takes all his willpower to stop the strangled moan from bubbling out of his throat. The educated moral citizen in him falters against the lust that surged across his very being.

Namjoon wants to die when he sees realization flicker across her face. Her cheeks had darkened to even more crimson hues as she finally realizes the trick to standing. He’s dazed and she’s fast. She disappears after three low bows, running through plastic and vanishing from view as quickly as she came.

The loss of the feeling of her body against his is like stepping out from a warmed room to meet the cold outside. It’s an indescribable emptiness that he doesn’t know inflicted him until she leaves. It takes seconds for his mind to run through a thousand reasons why he feels this way and when it settles on one it sends his feet racing out of the artwork to be greeted by an empty gallery space.

His eyes darted around frantically as he spins, his feet pacing through the maze of the gallery. He heads for the main entrance, his eyes flickering for the bright yellow. He searches for minutes, running pass artwork after artwork without a second glance, something he rarely does.

His mind screaming for that cadmium yellow.

When security comes to pick him up, bodyguards questioning his frantic movements he’s rambling with questions. When they answer with words that feature ‘no’ and ‘we didn’t see a girl in yellow’. He’s silent and disappointed as he climbs back into the car to take him back to the concert venue.

Namjoon is smart.

It doesn’t take much for a genius like him to realize that the girl had been his soulmate.

His not-yet-20 soulmate.

And he had let her go just like that, running through his fingers.

He had her in his embrace so close to his body, they might as well have been lovers.

It’s later when someone points out the crystal hanging from the chained earring that a smile finally flickers across his face.

He keeps it safe in his wallet, stored in the compartment right next to a picture of his parents.

He promises to himself he'll give it back to her when he actually meets her one day.

As an intelligent human being, he's definitely not in love. He barely knows the girl but Namjoon's very sure his body had fallen head over heels for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the happy moments in this story while you still can...I'm going to make a turn into a dark alleyway soon (If you get what I mean)
> 
> BTS are humans, please love them and respect their privacy!
> 
> Disclaimer: Don't try to play with fate and follow Amber's crazy encounters. Your God of Fate isn't me. You'll get thrown into jail faster than you can say 'KIM NAMJOON KIM SEOKJIN MIN YOONGI-' 
> 
> fwipppp 
> 
> *police handcuffs you and tosses you into jail*


	8. Banana Milk

"Wow. Literally, every single time I leave you alone in Korea you're getting handsy with some boy." MiRi shakes her head, raising silver tongs into the air. "You know at first the word 'handsy' would have been literal? Now, you've gone and done it."

MiRi makes an exaggerated explosion sound with her lips, using her free hand to mimic that of a jet plane shooting through an air.

"Third base in one shot. You're going to reach home base at this rate, my girl."

"Oh my God. Stop." Amber groaned, jutting her bottom lip. "It was an accident! Accident!"

"A fantastic accident if you ask me." MiRi flips the pork belly on the grill. The fat pooling at its surface sizzles loudly as it touches the hot metal, emitting a rich meaty scent that travels to Amber's nose and elicits a growl of hunger from the depths of the bottomless pit she calls her stomach.

Fact 1: Dieting is near impossible in Korea.

"And done within an artwork? Damn. You're fulfilling fantasies us common folks would never even dream of being possible."

Amber decides to take the chance to down her shot glass of soju. It's not the industrial, mass-made stuff she's used to drinking. The cheap ones that smell like scorched sugar and tastes like cheap alcohol.

This was traditional soju. Smelling like ripe cherries and plum over a faint earthiness, this is a smooth sweetness that flows down her throat easily without the familiar burn of alcohol. It's chilled perfectly into an icy slush that melts slowly despite the burning heat of the grill.

Amber has lost count on the number of birthday presents MiRi has gifted to her, but this bottle of expensive soju is yet another one of her presents which they share over plates of Korean barbecue.

Is MiRi a sugar mommy?

Maybe.

Tip of the day: When you can't get yourself a rich husband, get yourself a rich best friend who likes to spoil you rotten.

"Was he hot?" MiRi asked. She plonks slabs of raw beef short ribs on to the grill and the fat bubbles and drips down into the crevices of the metal monster.

"Yes." Amber immediately blurts out without a thought. She swallows and laughs sheepishly. " To tell you the truth, I don't really know. He had on a mask and a hat. The only thing I could see was his eyes."

"Wow. Must be a hot pair of eyes." MiRi smirks, meeting her eye with a wink. Amber looks away, taking the chance to wrap a piece of pork belly, soaked in soybean paste with a dash of salt, in lettuce. She shoved it into her mouth, her cheeks bulging out obscenely as she chewed.

Her mind explodes as a symphony of flavours dance over her tongue. The monster in her belly howls in approval as it slobbers over chunks of meat that she swallows too fast. She's almost crying at the refreshing crunch of lettuce, the thick bites of juicy marbled meat and the thrum of salty sweet soybeans.

Almost. She bites back a moan as she hums happily, bouncing on her seat with each chew.

How divine.

"Stop giving me those orgasmic facial expressions and start giving me the juicy story, Amb!" MiRi's voice breaks her out of her thoughts. Amber looked at her pointedly then looked back at the grill. Her chopsticks snapped out to pierce into a slice of marinated beef which she stuffed into her mouth at breakneck speed.

She continued chewing happily, blatantly ignoring her BFF.

"Amber..."

Said girl pointed at her bulging cheeks and gives her best friend a closed eye smile.

"Are you kidding me? Your tactic now is to stuff your face so you don't have to talk to me?"

Amber nods. She's already spilled the bare minimum and her face was already flushed a brilliant red from embarrassment, any more and she might have a heart attack.

"Fine!" MiRi growls. "I'll just have to eat the meat quickly then!" The girl starts stuffing her face. Much to Amber's horror, she swipes up a huge piece of pork belly, soaks it in a generous amount of spicy soybean paste and shoves the whole chunk forcefully into her mouth.

Amber whined in protest, quickly dipping another piece into soybean paste and anchovy sauce. She stuffs the well-seasoned delicacy into her mouth with a huge wad of rice, scarfing it down like a Tasmanian devil who's not eaten for days.

It's only after another ten plates of meat do they stop and head back to the hotel, full and sleepy with a food coma.

Aside from the fiasco with earring dude, her day had been pretty good. She's visited the Art Museum, went out for some cheap retail therapy at factory outlets and gone to instagrammable places to take glam pictures.

Amber's sure the next day would be even better.

The minute they enter their hotel room, Amber calls first dibs on the shower in an attempt to escape MiRi's continued interrogation on her love life. By the time she's out of the toilet, skin glowing from the heat of the water and her hair a messy lump of wet strands, MiRi's too tired to bug her with questions stumbling right into the shower for a bath without so much of a peep.

Thank God for that. Retelling the story is basically reliving the story and Amber's already relived that story a thousand times in her head.

Amber steps out of the room, heading down to the convenience store located at the ground level of the hotel with a bounce on her step.

She wants a cold drink. Something sweet and refreshing. Her throat is parched from all that smoked meat, so dry that her tongue sticks to her mouth. It flops about like a fish out of water in the middle of the Sandy Saharan Desert.

Honestly, it's her fault.

She had blasted burning water over her skin, practically cooking herself in the shower, a mad attempt to burn away her lustful thoughts of the men she had just met that day. In hindsight, she should have frozen herself with ice water but she's not that keen on getting sick anytime soon.

The convenience store is bright. As a product of mass production and industrialisation, the store gleams in a myriad of colours from the thousands of shiny products. It's blinding to her tired eyes and it takes a while to adjust from the soft yellow glow of the hotel to the bright white fluorescent light of the store. The happy tune that plays doesn't really help in the transition and Amber feels as if she's stepped into another dimension.

The ambience, the key to a store's success.

She stalks past the dry food aisle, heading straight to the area emitting wafts of chilled air. She clamps her teeth together as her skin protests at the cold, goosebumps popping over peach coloured flesh. Amber sighed, averting her eyes quickly down to her chest.

She's not exactly properly dressed.

She has on a forest green long sleeve that's made of thick cotton fabric and a fleece jogger pants that hanged dangerously low on her hips, the strings lose from overuse. At first glance, she's generously covered.

No cleavage, no ass, no tummy.

But, Amber's not one to wear her bra to sleep. It's just uncomfortable as hell and the wires dig into her flesh leaving itchy red lines over her skin, which explains her current very obvious problem.

Shit.

Amber cursed seeing hints of pebbled nipples winking teasingly when she turns her body to face the light. She should have just flung on a jacket or maybe the hotel robe to conceal her braless state.

Gah!

She shakes her head, looking around to see if anyone had seen her staring at her boobs. Thankfully, it's late and the only other person in the store is the cashier who looks ready to pass out into his bed.

Amber hurries to grab the bottle of strawberry flavoured milk from it's pristine shelf. She hands the product with the money to the cashier, subconsciously hunching her body in an attempt to hide her nipples. The boy doesn't even notice, struggling to keep eyes open as he scans her item.

The minute the cashier hands her the drink and she heads off in long quick strides. As she steps out of the store, Amber fakes nonchalance peeling the aluminium covering over the drink to take a quick swig.

The liquid is sweet, dripping down her throat and her oesophagus in an icy cold spiral. While the drink tastes nothing like fresh strawberries and is definitely flavoured chemicals, the false sweetness is a personal favourite of hers. The flowery taste is something that makes her tongue flop about with joy.

Her legs settled into a familiar stride as she takes another huge gulp, lifting her head up to tilt the drink back.

A stupid move for the queen of disasters.

Her shoulder clips into someone and the shock from two colliding forces causes her to jerk forcefully sending a cascade of chemically flavoured milk dripping from her lips and all over her shirt. The sudden flash of icy cold causes her body to flinch violently and she splutters, spewing more drink from her lips like a fountain. She titters forward, her drink threatening to spill further.

 _"Aw f*ck. Sorry sorry!"_  The person who had slammed into her like a wrecking ball through a building holds her clumsy ass in place with his large hands.

They span across her hips. Warm and hot despite the layer of fabric between them. He let's go quickly after steadying her and the loss of that heat is almost...unpleasantly painful and she inhales sharply at the loss.

Amber swallows the rest of the milk in her mouth. The liquid is so close to going down the wrong pipe her throat constricts painfully and tears blur her vision. She blinked rapidly, her eyes dazed from the impact and her brain struggles to register what the hell had just happened.

She glanced up blurrily to see hints of long double lidded eyes staring at her from under orange tinted glasses. She has to squint to even make out the shape of his eyes, barely capable of seeing the dark pupils that bore down upon her.

There's nothing to see. The dude is covered from head to toe, his hair masked by a bucket hat, lips covered by a black mask and eyes concealed by orange-tinted sunglasses. Her eyes drifted down to his attire and Amber stifles a bark of laughter.

There's nothing wrong with his pyjamas. It's a simple enough stripped pattern, commonly seen in men young and old. It's the whole get up that makes her face contort into a constipated expression as she struggles to stop herself from laughing out loud.

This is a green camo printed jacket paired with blue striped pyjamas, bright orange glasses and dramatically concealed features.

If she were to give him a fashion award, she would call it the world's lousiest stalker.

At a closer look, she notices the wisps of curly orange locks that peaked out from the bucket hat. The same shade as Naruto's jumper. Some strands of his hair mirror the colour of his sunglasses and make everything even more out of place.

He does smell amazing though.

Amber mentally groaned. Yet another good smelling male. Was her body just that compatible with people from the general Korean population? Was she lacking in some gene that Korean Males had?

His is a stronger darker scent with sweeter notes that reminds her of tangerine juice. It's paired off with the spicy musk of black pepper and the woody burn of cedar. She inhales sharply, getting a lung full of refreshing masculinity and remembers exactly where she was.

 _"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. Um, I'll get you another cup of milk?"_ The guy spluttered, muffled Korean words tumbling out of a covered mouth.

 _"Hehehe."_ Amber laughs awkwardly, shaking her head. " _It's okay. I ate a lot anyway. No need to feed my fat ass with even more carbs."_

 _"You're kidding, right? Fat?"_  The guy scoffs from under his mask.  _"Please! Where did you get that idea from?"_  Amber could almost see the peaks of a raised brow from the shadows of his bucket hat.

 _"My food baby?"_  Amber replies instinctively in a low drawl.  _"Maybe the fact that my waist isn't A4 sized?"_

 _"Huh...A...4?"_ He tilts his head to the side, the peaks of his brows mash together.  _"Is that a trend?"_

Amber's lips twitched into a sad smile.

_"It's trending in China and clearly I've failed the test."_

_"Hmmm..Why degrade yourself to that piece of paper?_   **Every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top~** " There's a cheeky tone to his voice as he softly sings to the tune from Meghan Trainor. Amber doesn't expect the sound that escapes his lips. A shiver runs across her skin as she stares at the man before her.

His voice is cute, it's sweet and light-hearted, goofy and comedic. Under the initial sound is a low growly edge that differentiates his voice from being a cup of whip cream to a cup of frozen yoghurt.

It's smooth and creamy, but also tart and tangy. The initial sweetness is followed by the sour tang of citrus. The yoghurt explodes on the tongue and leaves behind chips of rock sugar to crunch and chew, leaving behind a mellow after taste.

Refreshing and familiar.

So very, very familiar.

Her mouth opens before she thinks.

 _"Does that mean you're an ass man?"_  Amber teased back, attacking with another line in the song softly.  **"She says, boys like a little more booty to hold at night~"**

Her voice echoes around them, cutting into the soft music clear and steady. Amber knows her voice doesn't have the usual mezzo-soprano pitch that most girls would have. It's lower and could pass off for a boy's. It's precisely because of this that a jolt of fear shoots through her system after her solo debut. She's fearful that he might be disgusted by the sound

Her self-degrading thoughts were broken by a pleasant hum of approval and a reply.

 _"Hmm. Maybe."_ His voice lilts upwards and if she squints hard enough she can see that his eyes are curved into little rainbows of amusement.  _"You'll just have to find out yourself."_

The last sentence comes out in a low seductive purr and Amber describes it as infusing orange zest, pomegranate molasses and roasted nuts into the depths of the creamy treat.

She swallows thickly. Her vision blurring out her surroundings. The soft music that her ears once registered now dulls into a low thrum at the back of her mind as she watches the man before her, intoxicated by his scent and his presence.

Or maybe it's just her mind doing tricks on her because he's so close to her that he's practically within her personal space and yet she doesn't feel an ounce of disgusted discomfort. Rather, she welcomes it and her heart is sent pounding under her skin, quickening at the burn of his concealed gaze.

Amber blinks, her mind finally registering his words. She coughs, feeling cheeks dusting into a bright pink. She flicks her tongue out to wet drying lips and subconsciously bites into the soft flesh.

 _"Uwu."_ She decides to reply. He freezes at the sound, his shoulders going stiff and then he's letting out a throaty laugh. He attempts to stifle it and the sound squeaks in his throat as he cuts off the air from his laughter.

It's bright and sunny. It reminds her of a baby's laughter in advertisements, the same repeated giggles. Only this wasn't kiddy or girly, this was a burst of deep laughter that comes straight from his diaphragm in waves that sends his body shaking from the force of each laugh.

His happiness consumes him, and it spreads outwards like a typhoon, infecting all in its wake.

 _"Did you just reply to me 'uwu' ?"_  He manages to say between laughs.  _"CUTE!"_  His laughter is so infectious, Amber can't help the bubbles of laughter from escaping her own lips. He inhales deeply through his laughter and when he opens his mouth again, his voice is loud and bright.

Familiar. Where has she heard this before?

 _"Let me buy you another cup of milk?"_  He bounces on the balls of his feet as he grows more and more excited. The hair that escapes from his hat bounces along with him, soft and wavy.  _"Chocolate? Strawberry again? Maybe banana flavoured? That's my favourite."_

 _"Okay."_ Amber can't help but reply with a shy nod. She could see hints of his smile from the crinkle of his eyes. He chuckles and bolts towards the convenience store in quick strides not without turning back every so often to see if she were following him.

She follows him, re-entering the blinding store again and watches as he grabs two bottles of banana milk from the fridge.

 _"One for me and one for you."_  He replies sweetly, turning to look at her only to stiffen. His body freezes, muscles clamping into the same position for a second too long to be normal.

If this were an anime, this would be the animator's cue to draw him as a rock statue. Grey and marbled.

Amber blinked, her lips twitching downwards and her brows furrowing into a frown. Her head tilts in confusion as she searches his features for the reason. Eyes trying in vain to decipher exactly what he was looking at.

It's too bad because the bright lights of the store reflect against his orange shades making it even harder to decipher even the shapes of his eyes.

Did he forget his cash or something? Amber pursed her lips together.

She reached into her pocket, intending to pull out her wallet only to feel warm and soft fabric wrap around her shoulders in a soft hug. She glanced up, her breath hitching as he steps up so close to her she's made aware, yet again, of exactly how tall he is and how good he smells.

He places his jacket on her shoulders, gently pulling it close to cover her body. His scent envelops her, tangerines and cedar, and she resists the urge to bury her nose into the soft fabric.

 _"You look cold..."_ His voice is odd. While it's gentle and filled with that same teasing warmth, Amber notes the strain within them. It leaves her mouth oddly dry and sends her stomach into a hyperdrive of fluttering sensitivity.

It sounds as if he were breathless from an intense exercise or- if she were to indulge in her sick fantasies- if he's talking and getting blown by a girl at the same time.

He spins on his heels sharply, heading to the cashier to pay for their drink and she follows him curiously. Her lips pursed into a thin line at the tenseness of his shoulders, the stiffness of the muscle in his neck and the bulge of the edges of his cheeks that allude to clenched jaws.

He turns and she follows him out of the store, watching as he fiddled with a tiny straw piercing it into the aluminium cap.

 _"Here."_  He twists his body back to face her in a quick spin.  _"Drink up!"_ His voice loses that strain and is replaced by the familiar sunny, happy lilt.

Amber takes the bottle from him to sip at the drink as they walk towards the main lobby in slow languid strides. Maybe, he's sleepy? She mentally dispels the confusing thoughts, choosing to snuggle into the warmth of his very nice smelling, very soft jacket.

Damn. Could she buy it from him? She could make a profit selling Eau de Orange Man

 _"Thanks. Strawberry is my thing but one can't go wrong with banana."_  She tells him through sips. She sucks a little too hard and droplets of milk escape the crevices of her lips to spill down, she quickly licks it up with her tongue, taking her time to clean her lips which were sticky from residual milk. Amber winced the voice of her mother thunders within her mind.

DOES YOUR MOUTH HAVE HOLES?

Right thanks, Mom. My mouth is a hole. She mentally grumbles back. She glanced up to see good-smelling dude 3 staring at her, holding his own drink idly in his palms. She thinks he's seeing her or maybe he's not.

Honestly, Amber's not that sure at this point. He could possibly be staring blankly into space. She colours, feeling embarrassed.

Did he see her childish mistake? Oh crap. She clears her throat and laughs, trying to clear her name.

_"I like the real thing more than the artificial flavouring. I eat it all the time for breakfast."_

_"Oh? Banana milkshake? Hmmm."_

He sounds extremely out of it. Amber notes. His voice is far away within his head and his hum drags out a bit too long to just be a thought filler.

_"I mean. I like it dipped in chocolate too. You know the ones at Japanese festivals? The kind that has rainbow sprinkles." Amber prattles on between sips. "It's like a popsicle!"_

_"P-Popsicle?"_

_"Uhhh or a lollipop."_

_"Lolli...pop."_  He mirrors her words, his voice growing soft. He chokes, coughing under his mask and Amber moves automatically to rubs his back in concern. " _I'm fine. I-COUGH-choked on my saliva."_  He wheezes and when he finally gets it out of the wrong pipe. He gives a big sigh.

 _"I must look really stupid. "_  His voice is low, soft and super sad. Amber can almost hear the pout in his words.

 _"Noooo."_  Amber shakes her head quickly. " _Relax, I choke on my saliva all the time. It's my hobby."_ In a mad attempt to make him feel better about himself Amber blurts out words she never expected to say.

Saliva choking. A HOBBY? She mentally bashes her head against a wall.

 _"Hobby?"_  He snorts.

_"Um...talent?"_

_"Talent?"_  He's chuckling at this point, shoulders shaking. He's very obviously trying his best to hold back his laughter to be polite.

 _"Gah!"_ Amber groaned, pressing her empty palm on her face. God help her. "  _Just let me die in a ditch right now."_ Amber groaned. What the shit was she saying.

 _"Don't die."_  There's a tenderness to his voice that's just like dripping caramel sauce into a cup of yoghurt.  _"You're too cute to deprive someone of his soulmate."_

His words send mixed feelings swirling in her mind. Feelings that she doesn't have time to clearly pinpoint and dissect because he's stammering and blushing furiously judging from the redness of his ears and neck.

_"S-Sorry that was out of line from me. You must...already...have a soulmate-"_

_"I don't."_

_"Ah? Oh...Oh. You're waiting...too."_

Amber doesn't know why his replies are heavy with growing disappointment.

 _"I'm not 20 yet."_ Amber raised a brow at him.  _"Still young, single and free."_

_"Oh!~"_

It's almost hilarious how his next reply is kind of musical. Amber exhaled, lips spreading into a wide grin.

Flattering.

" _You think it's me don't you, bad fashion_  ahjussi (uncle)" Amber teased, her voice dipping into a low drawl. Orange dude stiffens and laughs awkwardly trying to act like he doesn't know what she's talking about.

 _"Um..Hahaha. Wait, what? Bad fashion? Excuse me!_ " He rapidly tries to change the topic, frantically trying to dispel her suspicions.

 _"Mmm don't change the topic."_  Amber continues to tease, her grin growing wider and wider.

 _"How dare you call me an uncle, I'm only 25 you know! RUDE!"_  He teased back in a cutesy nasal baby voice. Oomph. He could pull off aegyo (Korean reference to a cute display of affection) well huh. Amber's kind of sad when they reach the corridor leading to her hotel room and the fact that he clearly has no intention in stopping speaks volumes of where he's sleeping.

Basically, at the other block of the hotel.

 _"Oh damn, I thought you were 23,_ " Amber continued to tease.  _"Oh sorry, grandpa."_

_"YAH!"_

Amber giggles. It's funny how Koreans use that instead of 'oi' or 'hey'.

Diversity at its finest.

Also, with the English context in her mind, it sounds like he's agreeing to her so it's kind of really amusing.

 _"Fine,"_ Amber sighs, beaming up at him.  _"I'll let you off. Thanks for the drink and the jacket, mister."_ Amber stops, slipping the silky thing off her shoulders only for him to pull it gently back over her shoulders.

_"Keep it."_

_"Huh?"_

_"Give it to me when we meet again."_

_"Oh? You sound very sure we will meet again."_  Amber raised a brow.

 _"I have 5 years of experience kid."_ He shrugs.  _"Besides, you look good in my clothes."_

 _"Maybe...even better?"_ Amber teased.

" _Wait, is that a jab at my fashion sense again?_ " He fakes a harrumph, folding his hands and tapping his foot comically. Amber bursts into peals of laughter. It's nothing that funny but something about his presence just makes her want to smile.

There's a moment of comfortable silence as she just basks in his presence, staring at his face. Under the glow of the nearby lamp, she can finally see almond-shaped eyes that curve upwards into moons of happiness.

His gaze, while obscured by orange, is warm and tender. It makes her heart feel drippy as if he were melting her very soul.

The ding of the elevator's arrival break them out of their moment and Amber is frantically clambering into the lift. She presses the button that leads to her floor only to be stopped by his voice.

 _"What's your name?"_ He called.

 _"Oh!"_  Amber's embarrassed. They've spent half an hour together but she's not given him her name.  _"Ambrosia. You?"_

_"Hose-"_

The elevator slams close before he finishes his words and Amber frowned feeling a little disheartened.

Damn.

What a cockblock.


	9. Mango and Avocado Toast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Every BTS fact that I say in this fic is fake news (This is an Alternate Universe) XD so...Please don't believe it

On D-days, Seokjin needs coffee.

He usually spends the night before lying wide awake in bed just thinking about the millions of ways he could screw up on stage.

His mind is creative.

Sometimes it’s thoughts about his pants (and underwear) splitting open in midst of hip thrusts, effectively flashing his fans and soiling his reputation forever. Other times it’s about him tripping and accidentally stabbing himself with the microphone stand. Both highly impossible situations but still worthy enough to worry about.

The scarier ones were realistic fears. The kind like burping in the middle of singing, voice cracks, forgetting steps, messing up lyrics or accidentally injuring the other members. Those mistakes happen so often yet the tears that ensue

The possibilities were endless and so it takes a bit more effort to sleep.

In the past, he used to have soulmate fears. Fears like experiencing a body exchange mid-song, maybe a voice switch or a sight swap while he’s singing. Those fears were never just about the tightness in the chest, the bellyaches, the dizziness and the chills.

It’s mixed with excitement, the kind that thrums across his skin in waves of hope and longing.

A few years ago, he used to complain about it to his members. ‘What if my soulmate appears on stage instead of me?’ He would say. ‘What would you do?’ They would come up with thousands of stupid suggestions which they would laugh over right before the concert.

Seokjin doesn’t do it anymore.

None of them do.

With their youngest, Jungkook, already passing the one year mark it’s clear that he would face a similar fate as the rest of his hyungs(older brothers).

The staff tells them that they are lucky. Fate has given them the chance to focus on their careers without any distractions.

Their managers say they should be thankful that they don’t have to deal with a screaming kid when they go home. Their bosses laugh and urge them to enjoy their singlehood as much as they can. Their fellow dancers tell them the years would give them time to earn money to support a future family. The makeup artists tell them their future soulmate would appreciate their wisdom and the wait would translate into an appreciation that not many would have.

To Seokjin, lucky is the wrong word to use.

His mother had passed away when he was 16. It is a common story, an age-old tale that starts with the creation of vehicles. Every day, 28 people die as a result of drunk driving. His beautiful mother had been one of the 28 on a nice summer day where the sun shines even when it rains.

It used to be his favourite kind of days. He likes it when the sun hits those beads of falling water creating tiny flecks of light in the landscape.

Now it’s not.

Time is short. His father would say. Appreciate your soulmate while you still can. Love them, cherish them and protect them. Seokjin vowed that he would. He swore it on his mother’s grave and had promised her repeatedly as a child when she used to tell him that the only woman he could love more than her was his soulmate.

It’s probably why he converted from being the type of guy to run from kissing scenes in movies to one that squeals over cute romantic comedies.

Seokjin is a romantic and he’s fascinated with the idea of soulmates.

It’s why it had hurt a lot when no soulmark was there to greet him on his 20th birthday.

Each day is a disappointment. A piece of barb wire forced into his heart that twists with each passing day. It’s a hammer to the glass of his heart which shatters with each swing until all that’s left were smithereens.

Seokjin no longer goes to bed each night bursting with hope. He’s numb from the disappointment.

They all were

Most of them were way past their prime.

Soulmarks are common. The average person learns that he/she has a soulmate at 20 years old. Those without soul marks usually figure out that they do have a soulmate within the span of six months. Any more and you’re in the rare 10% of the population who has no clue what the f*ck is going on.

Seokjin’s waited six years.

At this point, the chances of his soulmate being dead is much higher than the chances that his soulmate is an unfertilized egg.

He’s pretty much one foot into the population of forever-singles.

He buries himself in work as a distraction. His motto is ‘If he has no soulmate, his fans will then be his soulmate.’ Seokjin’s not the flirtiest but he’s the most loving. At fan meets he treats every fan with the same amount of tenderness that he would have given to his own soulmate.

It’s also why he hates visiting his brother or basically any other friend outside of BTS. At his age, his peers were well into the relationship, most preparing for marriage or already married and with a child. Everything is a painful reminder of what he does not have.

The members talk about it sometimes.

On most days, Seokjin jokes and laughs about it. On bad days he sits with Yoongi and just cries and cries about the unfairness of life which, according to Yoongi, is a great way to gain inspiration for song lyrics, because the best music is the ones born out of pain and sorrow.

That dumb shit was just using him to write song lyrics.

It’s kind of really sad but his best solo single, which has topped charts and garnered a hundred million views on Youtube is a song called Love Myself.

Their fans think it’s about self-appreciation.

His members know it’s really about him being salty about having no soulmate.

Seokjin needs coffee. Without it, he’s a sad, depressing mess that’s nothing like his usual self.

Seokjin steps into the hotel’s restaurant in search for coffee from the free breakfast that comes with their rooms. On concert days, the members don’t eat from the hotel breakfast. Their meals are catered and specifically picked to prevent any bad accidents that involve the orifices of their body. While the quality of the buffet breakfast is ensured due to the high rating of the hotel, one could never be too careful.

But Seokjin decides to break some rules. It’s too early to get the staff members to go out for a coffee run, with most of them still asleep or busy getting ready and the members are banned from leaving the safety of the hotel.

Dressed in skinny jeans and a simple black t-shirt, he’s slipped on a pair of sunglasses and a black mask to hide his identity. Thankfully, there’s barely anyone in the restaurant and he gets to sit quietly by himself, sipping on coffee while he watches the sun rise higher up in the sky.

He daydreams for a bit, zoning out a few times.

He doesn’t notice her until he finishes his cup of coffee and sits up, ready to leave. Frankly speaking, it’s hard not to notice.

She’s sparkling.

Seated directly in the light of the morning sun, the soft rays of light danced over her skin, trailing its long fingers over her collarbone. It illuminates half of her face, highlighting the length of her eyelashes and the dip of her cute little nose.

She would look like a pixie if not for the generous swell of her breast, barely concealed by the slim short-sleeved chiffon. The V-neck exposes her collar bone and the soft pink of her skin.

Seokjin doesn’t know he has a thing for collarbones but he definitely knows now.

He would have continued to wax on poetically about her looks if not for her sudden actions. She had reached towards her plate, small slender fingers picking up a slice of toast with-Seokjin squints for a better look-mango and avocado? Huh.

He watched, transfixed as she takes her time to pick up a lemon slice and squeeze it over the mango generously. She then picks it up, gently placing it on her tongue and takes a small dainty bite of bread.

If you told Seokjin that he would one day see a slow-motion food advertisement in real life, he would have laughed in your face.

She’s chewing slowly and with each bite, her face melts into a bliss that Seokjin has only seen in porn videos. Her eyes were fluttering, fanning thick and long lashes across pinked cheeks and her rosebud shaped lips, crimson red and plump, parts slowly, making a small ‘o’ shape.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Seokjin’s mind is in overdrive but he can’t break his gaze away, heat shoots across his body, burning his body and lighting a fire in his groin. His mouth is dry as it parts to hang open in a dazed shock.

Maybe it’s just his imagination, but Seokjin swears her eyes rolled back into her head and her head tilts backwards just a little. It doesn’t help that she hums, pressing those cute lips together. Her throat bobbing up and down as she swallows.

The killer move was when a bead of mango juice spills from the corner of her lips. The little pink muscle that darts out, licking at the spilt liquid before retreating is enough to send his heart beating so hard it almost hurts to breath.

He’s never seen someone eat so sensually. It must be a crime. A crimecrimecrimecrimeCRIME-

He instinctively slaps a hand to his covered lips, as he bends down to give a muffled scream. His face is hot. It’s so hot he’s dizzy from the heat, from the hormones, from everything. His dick is so hard, it’s f*cking weeping in his pants. It’s drenching his underwear making it stick to his skin and it feels like he’s peed his pants.

Precum, the enemy of all men.

GOD.

Seokjin is 26.

He’s a virgin but he’s tasted the pleasures of the adult world.

To put it simply, his dick has been sucked before.

Of course, it had been amazing. Of course, he had been blushing. Of course, he came in like 3 minutes during his first time. But, he’s never blushed this badly before.

This was uncharted waters for a virgin like him.

HELP.

Seokjin is scared. He’s so scared because he knows that he must. He MUST talk to her. It’s now or never. Seize the opportunity his mother would say. Seize the f*cking opportunity, Kim Seokjin!

Pulling his shirt as far down as it possibly can go to cover his erection, Seokjin somehow manages to make it stand in front of the girl and when he’s right before her his mind blanks. It’s flooded with the colour of her eyes under the sun. They’re copper against honey, they’re sunlight through a bottle of malt whisky, they’re caramel cocoa, they're honey tea and coffee. They’re the flecks of sand on the beach in his hometown, they’re the syrup on his pancakes. They’re-

 _“Do you want me?”_ Her voice is beautiful. It’s low and like dark chocolate with rainbow sprinkles. Rainbow sprinkles because Seokjin loves rainbow sprinkles.

Seokjin jumps at her words. Wait w-what? His heart is pounding in his head, the blood rushing through his system at an even faster rate than when he’s doing high cardio exercise.

 _“Avocado, mango toast?”_ She points to her plate and at the slices of mangoes.

Oh. Seokjin gulps. He must have autocorrected ‘it’ to ‘me’ in his mind.

 _“Um! Yes, please?”_ He chirps out without thinking. His voice is weird it’s oddly high. She smiles and Seokjin swears it’s rainbows and sunshine, sparkles and unicorns.

F*ck he’s going crazy.

She gently picks up a slice of toast with a napkin, buttering it generously, and spreading thick layers of avocado over the crispy bread. She then piles layers of ripe yellow mango on top of the creamy green and squeezes a lemon slice over her creation.

The whole time, Seokjin’s just openly staring at her face with rapt amazement. His mind shuts down and his body is just consumed.

Consumed by her.

Consumed by everything.

So pretty.

 _“Here!”_ She raises the bread and he takes it quickly from her stammering his thanks. A waft of sweet feminine fragrance spills from her as he steps close to her body to take the slice. It takes everything for him to not just bury his head into her neck and inhale.

HELPHELPHELP.

 _“Don’t drink coffee on an empty stomach...You could get indigestion!”_ She chides softly.

“ _Y-you were looking at me?”_ Seokjin blushes. Oh, did she notice his staring?

_“It’s hard not to notice when you’re wearing sunglasses and a mask indoors.”_

_“Ah…”_

_“Oh no but I don’t judge! You must be-”_ Seokjin flinched. Did she know who he was? _“-sick?”_

Yes, he was sick. Sick with desire.

 _“Get well soon!”_ She blushed prettily. The colour dusts over her cheeks, a faint pink glow that reminds Seokjin of cotton candy.

His phone buzzes in his back pocket and he flinches. Crap, that must be his manager.

_“I have to go...Thank You.”_

_“No problem, um, good luck for today!”_

Does she know???? At this point, Seokjin isn’t sure if his cover is blown or not but she’s so nice his heart swells with a weird warmth that he doesn’t understand.

_“Ah! You too!”_

It’s later in the van to the venue that he gets scolded by his manager. Even though they insist that he throws the bread away he refuses and eats the whole thing in one bite before the other members could steal it from him.

It’s good.

The juicy tart mango cuts through the richness of the avocado and the juiciness compliment the creaminess well. The lemon keeps the sweetness in check, turning it into a sophisticated flavour that just makes him yearn for more.

His expression must have shown how good it tasted because his members were glaring daggers at him for not sharing.

It’s later at the venue that he stays in the bathroom for way too long to be normal. Seokjin lies and chalks it up to a bad stomach which the other members laugh and tease at him about, telling him it served him right for eating the bread.

Seokjin will never admit that he had been jerking off to the memory of the girl in the restaurant.

Never.

He's taking that secret to the grave.


	10. Orange Glasses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Intense GIF usage. XD I spent like a good 20 minutes just googling for them...

On her birthday, they eat cake for breakfast.

Amber almost dies of embarrassment when the hotel staff played happy birthday over the music system. It definitely caused a few heads to turn her way to stare almost incredulously at her and not in a good way.

Amber had been very close to standing and bowing to them in apology.

After that, they’re running off to the concert venue. Their hotel is mere minutes from the venue so the two opt for public transport. As expected, the trains are swarmed with fangirls holding light sticks and accessorized with BTS merchandise. If it’s bad on the trains, it’s worse at the venue.

The minute they had stepped out of the station, they literally could not move. Literally.

Crazy.

There were people everywhere from all walks of life, of all kinds of cultures and ethnicities. Amber has never seen so many people in a single area before, not even at Disney. This was more than just packed sardines in a can. This was a can of sardines which the vendor was trying to make into a biscuit so the guy shoves it into a hydraulic press and pounds it into a flat disk.

Amber shimmied pass a group of women screaming excitedly as they waved their light sticks in the air. Her fingers were wrapped tightly with Miri's as they manoeuvred through the sea of fans, ARMYs to be exact.

There was literally no personal space at all and walking involved the brushing of body part against body part. It’s honestly, the perfect place for pickpockets and Amber grips tightly to her wallet in her pocket as they walk.

It’s kind of awkward holding your ass as you shimmy through crowds of people but Amber couldn’t care less at this point.

She winced, jerking back as one of the fans started to hack violently into the air, spewing whatever germs she had into the surrounding environment. Amber clasped her mouth to her face in an attempt to stop the beads of saliva from spraying across her lips. Disgusting. This was also exactly how an epidemic would start. One sneeze, one zombie and a hundred thousand people would end up as carriers of a deadly virus.

Tip of the day: When you want to kill the population. Start at a BTS concert.

Amber is in a daze. There are people lugging suitcases around to carry their BTS official merchandise, there are people selling homemade hair bands and posters on picnic mats. There are lines of people everywhere queuing up for so many different things and girls dressed in thousands of different shades of colours.

As a creative pessimist, Amber finds her mind swerving towards the death section as she surveyed the crowds.

She’s very sure that if any BTS member walked out to say hi. The whole crowd would run like a swarm of bees towards the guy. Amber would (of course) trip and fall. She would then be trampled and killed by a mass stampede, like Mufasa versus the herd of wildebeest in Lion King.

A gruesome and very sad death.

Amber pursed her lips as body odour wafts in the air towards her extremely sensitive nose and her eyes travel to the sweaty group of Korean males who looked like they ran twenty kilometres to get here. Ther shirts while cute and printed with the faces of the BTS members were drenched yellow with sweat.

They looked like they had camped here for days. As expected of BTS, the numbers of super fans they had were sky high. She wrinkled her nose, trying her best to keep her feelings from being too obvious on her face.

Huh. No hate but seems like not all Korean males smelled good.

Who would have known?

Amber does not know what to feel. She’s in a dreamy, out of body state where she just could not believe that this was happening. She’s pretty much floating about in her mind as MiRi drags her along like a sack of potatoes.

They pass through the metal detector, emptying bottles of water and were scanned from head to toe for hidden weapons. It’s only after that when MiRi screams for her to run because the soundcheck event was about to start soon.

Amber’s shocked out of her dreamy state and their tearing across the stadium towards the doors that lead them deep within the stadium, heading towards, right smack at the front of the stage.

Amber is lucky.

The numbers on their tickets are so low it’s crazy. BigHit Entertainment had literally given Deok-Su one of the best standing tickets possible. It’s flipping number 21 and 22 in category 1, in other words during the actual concert itself they had first dibs on where they wanted to stand. They’re so lucky that they’ve also won the lucky dip for soundcheck, where only 500 fans were allowed into the venue.

Plus the soundcheck numbers that the staff members were currently tying on their wrists are number 10 and 11.

And MiRi has the audacity to only tell her about it now.

It’s a whirlwind after that. MiRi’s pulling her to the actual line that snakes into the stadium. They’re pushed forward to take their spots at the front and fans around them are talking and screaming excitedly. Amber’s head is swimming. Her heart is pounding in her chest so hard she can almost hear it in her head. 

She’s fidgety, unable to stay in one spot as she dances about on her feet. She’s wrung her fingers a thousand of times and her feet can’t stop moving. Each minute to three is like an hour to her and she cannot sit still.

She was, after all, going to see the people who had pulled her out of the depths of darkness for the first time in her life in the flesh. They were no longer going to be just 2D material on her phone and she dies not knowing what to expect or what she’s feeling.

The minute the doors crack open, fans beside her are screaming and crying. MiRi’s holding her hand tightly, rubbing comforting circles on her palm as they enter and when her ticket is scanned. Amber is in.

The stadium is a sight to behold. The number of seats is endless and they curve in an oval shape, surrounding half the arena. There are so many seats that from where she stood, the specks of each pink seat run and disappear into the far distance, melting together in a long curved endless line. They surround the single stage at the very centre of the stadium.

This was no ordinary stage. Large posters with the words BTS WORLD TOUR, LISTEN TO ME stood proudly next to the two ginormous LCD screens that flanked the sides of the main stage. The main stage itself is even bigger with thousands of spotlights flickering and moving as staff members tested the light intensity.

The familiar BTS symbol flashed against a huge LCD screen at the centre of the stage and already the mist machine is at work spewing out vapours of water into the air. The mist drifts across the stage, reflecting the light of BTS’s minimalistic symbol and turning into a pretty purple-pink hue, similar to a cloud from the sky.

Like a dream, it was utterly and irrevocably beautiful.

Amber is running, she can’t even feel her legs pumping beneath her feet but she knows she’s moving. The scenery about her flashes in a blurred whirl and before she knows it. She’s against the railing, her fingers wrapped around metal bars. MiRi’s hot on her heels, laughing and talking excitedly behind her about the whole atmosphere. Amber barely registers her words, nodding and laughing almost hysterically.

Her emotions are wild. It swirls in her body, taking a hold of her heart and sending it beating at a speed so fast she doesn’t know it’s possible.

The minute BTS steps out to sing Destiny.

Something changes. 

It’s like going underwater. Her ears are muffled and the sounds of the screams from the girls around her are somehow cancelled out in her brain. She’s far away, the screams a low squeak at the back of her head.

Just like the sound, all those physical feelings she had been feeling washes away in a single sweep. Her mind barely registers the feeling of exhilaration and she just stands there watching in a daze as the seven men stalked out from the depths of the backstage to greet fans.

Amber is reminded of the pool, where she swims to the bottom and seats there watching the waves of light on the blue tiles. She’s reminded of the sound of the beach at sunrise, she’s reminded of the sky when she seats on a patch of grass and just daydreams while looking at white clouds drift over blue horizons.

Calming, peaceful...Comfort.

It’s weird. The weirdest feeling ever. It is probably what you would describe as the feeling of being high on drugs and it comes from just looking at the boys. They were her marijuana, her cocaine, her drug.

At first her vision swarms with all of them, her mind barely able to absorb the information. Then her gaze is travelling across their features, pinpointing the ones that stand out to her the most.

Yoongi and his snow-white skin.

Jimin and his plump pouty lips.

Taehyung and his heart-stopping smile.

Namjoon and his deep, beautiful dimples.

Hoseok and his rainbow shaped eyes.

Seokjin and his broad angular shoulders.

Jungkook and his large doe eyes.

Each boy is beautiful in their own way, exuding a different type of charisma as they spread across the stage. Amber appreciates them for everything, finding beauty even in the little flaws that were once concealed by photoshop.

She used to see them almost as otherworldly beings, placed them on a pedestal that was deemed untouchable and unreachable. Now with each boy right before her, she’s finally able to see the human in them and it makes them even more beautiful to her.

Her best analogy would be an oil painting. When a picture is taken, one is incapable of really noticing each brushstroke and raised bump of paint. The true hard work and dedication of the artist can only be deciphered when you have the actual painting right in front of you where you can actually distinguish each stroke and smear of paint.

Amber snaps back to reality as the dull bass begins and a sick beat plays. The sound is so loud the vibrations thrum in the air and travels up her body. It’s scary, the way it travels through her internal organs and rests in her heart. The minute they start singing, the bass dies down and it’s suddenly a mixture of beautiful voices.

Amber pressed her fingers to her lips, body trembling with exhilaration.

It’s honey coffee and sea-salt caramel latte, it’s Americano and sweet yoghurt coffee. It’s mocha frappuccino and matcha latte. Mellifluous with bass, high with low, smooth with gruff. Their voices were blended together in harmony, the sounds practically force goosebumps to pop over her skin.

Amber’s mind is blowing a thousand of times as they stand before her on stage. They were now barely a few metres away from her and in some weird logic, they were singing for her. This was not a radio recorded song, auto-tuned and perfected thousands of times for the promise of profit. This was them trying their best to sing as well as they could for their fans. This was them putting their heart and soul into each note to impress the people they were singing to. This was them working hard for the people before them.

For their fans.

For her.

Amber inhaled sharply, trying her best to will back the tears threatening to spill from her watery eyes. She blinked rapidly, smiling between dripping tears as she watched them silently. The girls around her were busy waving madly and screaming trying their best to grab their attention.

But not Amber.

Amber’s happy just watching them right then and there. She watched as Hoseok spins around, holding up his phone as he sang, no doubt for their international fans watching the live stream of the soundcheck.

He was truly a very handsome male of unconventional beauty.

His is a face of longer proportions with prominent cheekbones, that adds to his masculinity. While Jimin is all soft and cute, Hoseok is fun and mischievous.

There’s something about the way those double-lidded eyes that stretched upwards into little rainbows even with just the slight twitch of his lips that screams mischief.

Her eyes were greeted by a long nose which is his most discussed feature. It’s his alae, the sides of his nose, that is larger in shape. His nose tilts up to a higher than average nose bridge, pulling his nostrils such that it’s not the usual rounded holes. Rather, it’s sharper than most making it have a certain quality to it that’s almost artificial.

Haters online call his face one that’s a result of plastic surgery.

Amber calls it a Peter Pan nose, because it seriously looks exactly like the Disney character’s nostrils. It’s extremely adorable and the way it tilts up gives him a naughty air that no other male she has ever met in her life could possibly achieve. It doesn’t help that he’s one of the goofiest of the group and his upper lips are extremely defined cupid’s bows, turning his mouth into a near-perfect heart shape when he sings.

With those lips and those eyes, his is a smile that starts from his mouth and consumes his entire being. His smiles were the kind that sent Amber’s heart racing in her ribcage, slamming into the prison bars of bone desperate to get out. It’s the kind that causes her to lose a few brain cells and melt into a mindless heap at his grin. It’s the kind that makes her smile subconsciously even when she’s really sad.

It doesn’t help that Hoseok is expressive. He’s so expressive his face is almost like an open book when he dances and sings. So when he wants to be seductive. He can be and when he gets in the mood, like every other expression it consumes his body whole.

With the real-life package standing before her, she’s speechless when he faces her side of the crowd. There’s a bright grin on his face as he jumps to the tune laughing happily. That smile is the happiest thing she’s ever seen in her life, and he’s so beautiful.

She swears her eyes automatically adds a filter over him like a stupid K-Drama rom-com.

Her mind blurs out the background, shining ethereal light over his skin and adding in fake sparkles and roses that surround his body. There’s a chorus of angels singing in her head as he stalks up towards her side of the stage. He steps forward dangerously close to the edge, and conveniently even closer to her.

It’s so close if Amber had a selfie stick she could technically bump it against his feet.

He begins rapping out his lines in smooth flows of yoghurty sweetness mixed in with the gruff lows that remind her of coffee. Refreshingly sweet and yet aromatically bitter, he spits out each Korean word in a controlled smooth flow.

**_Our destiny was written in the stars, you can’t deny that I am the answer to your formula~_ **

His lips were moving so fast, her mind spins to understand the Korean as it grapples at the speed. Her breath hitches as he kneels before her, merely a metre from her own body, eyes scanning the crowd as he raps into his microphone with ease.

The girls around her are waving frantically, raising light sticks in the air trying in vain to grab his attention and so it must have been easy to spot the single lone figure in the crowd who’s not doing anything except staring and crying.

Their eyes meet.

**_Like a line that connects the dots in a heart-shaped scribble. This is a string that ties us together~_ **

It’s familiar. His gaze and her breath hitches when an absolutely breathtaking smile envelops his entire face. It’s spellbinding and knocks the wind from her lungs. He’s staring at her so intensely she can scarcely breathe.

Why?

Why was her heart beating so fast? Her lips part as he sustains eye contact with her. The microphone covers his lips but his eyes slowly lift, curving into little moons of happiness as the pouches of fat beneath his eyes were emphasized.

He’s smiling. He’s smiling so much the corners of his eyes crinkled and she could see the sides of his cheeks puffing out indicating the use of the muscle.

Then he slips the pair of orange sunglasses down from his orange coloured hair to conceal his eyes.

Orange tinted the shade is too familiar.

It’s more than familiar.

It’s-

**_When our paths cross once again, I will laugh and tell you that our meeting is destiny~_ **

Her face burns. It burns bright red, the warmth swarms over her skin and it rises up slowly. Her breath hitches and her mouth hangs open as she stared at him. This was Jhope from BTS.

The same guy who had flirted with her, bought her a drink and gifted her his jacket because she looked cold.

Oh God.

Amber’s cheeks glowed a bright crimson as she recalls her return to her hotel room. She had taken off the jacket and headed to the toilet only to give a scream of embarrassment.

She now knows the reason for his statue-like state when he had looked at her in the convenience store.

Her nipples had been showing.

The cold of that drink had not only caused them to become extra perky tips on round mounds of flesh, but the dark liquid stain had also made the outfit cling tightly to her chest, making each defined bump even more obvious, pressing tightly onto her body like a second skin.

In the light of that bright convenience store, it was definitely. Definitely, the most obvious thing in the entire world and like a gentleman he had given her his jacket.

At that moment in the toilet of her hotel room, she had not known whether to cry or to smile. Suffice to say she was very much embarrassed and also very much thankful for his actions. Things were now very different now that she knows that orange dude was more than just a funny, well-concealed but arguably attractive stranger at her hotel.

The Hose ( **a/n: HAHAHAHA garden hose!)**  at the elevator was trying to say ‘Hoseok’.

The Hoseok that was definitely a 100% one of the most attractive human beings she’s ever seen in her life.

Oh God. Help her.

_**You and I were never a coincidence or a trick of fate. We were always meant for each other~** _

His rap finally ends and Taehyung takes over the song to belt out lyrics in a low baritone, voice like a stream of viscous honey. Normally, Amber would turn to look at the singer but not this time.

Amber watched as Hoseok pulls the mic away from his lips to swing his legs over the edge of the stage. He takes a seat before her, kicking his legs out excitedly as he bounces happily on the ledge and Amber is thrown back to how he had bounced on his feet before her when they had met.

How had she not known?

He pulls off his glasses, running long fingers through his hair and at that moment with the white glow of the spotlight touching his skin and brushing against his beautiful features. He looked like a Sun God ready to give her his eternal judgement. He tilts his head to the side and smiles at her cutely.

He gestures to her.

W-What? She blinked as he grinned brightly, revealing white pearly teeth that wink and sparkle under the light. Raise her hand out?

She reached out and he smiled. She swears he mouths the word ‘ _catch’_  in Korean and he swings his glasses towards her.

For a second Amber panics. It’s flying glasses versus clumsy girl and the chances of her catching it are near zero. The bright smear of orange cuts across the air in slow motion and Amber just screams in her mind. Oh god, what if she drops and shatters it won’t it be super stupid-

Amber catches it.

The sunglasses rest at the tips of her fingers and she pulls it into a firm grip, holding it tightly to her chest. She stares as Hoseok claps good-naturedly. He’s so good looking in that yellow-blue hoodie that her heart weeps at her luck.

 _‘Give it to me when we meet again.’_  He mouths.

The guy stands blowing her a smooth air kiss towards her direction, giving her a very good view of his heart-shaped lips and prances back to stand with Taehyung to continue singing the next line. A flounce and bounce in his step.

What the hell just happened?

The glasses are cold in her hands and Amber clasps it tightly to her chest as she stares. Her eyes can’t leave Hoseok. At this point, she’s confused as hell and trying to link the dots between orange dude and Hoseok. She’s also dissecting their interactions and freaking out over the shit she’s said to her idol.

_Recap: I choke on my saliva all the time. It’s my hobby._

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


	11. Wink Wink

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GIFs are now my staple. XD SERIOUSLY, I feel like I'm bias wrecking myself. Okay bye! Time to go back to studying for my exams (cries).

Amber slaps her palms onto her blushing cheeks. She bends her head down to scream soundlessly, squeezing her eyes shut in absolute mortification.

She had called that hot specimen of a human being a freaking uncle!

He’s 25 and she called him an uncle.

An Uncle!

She had flirted with him, flashed him her nips and then insulted him with the U word. The one word you should not use on someone so good-looking and so young. Amber groaned, feeling second-hand embarrassment for her past self.

The audacity of that stupid 12 am Amber!

Amber pursed her lips together, teeth biting into lips so hard she might just draw blood.

Her mind is going haywire.

In technical terms (literally), it’s the wrong wire attached to the wrong plugs. It’s flayed rubber, exposed coppers and showers of bright orange sparks. It’s smoke and fire emitting from the sockets and warning alarms sounding repeatedly.

In the artistic viewpoint, it’s the same feeling as having a mug of coffee spill over a canvas that she has worked on for days. It’s accidentally exploding the spray can over a work of art and colouring it fluorescent pink when the entire thing is supposed to be a dull earthy brown. It’s screwing up and having your dog tear your work apart in pieces and you’re crying because you’re angry, but also because it’s funny that you have to tell your teacher ‘my dog ate my homework’.

How the hell she had not known that the stranger in the hotel was Jung Hoseok?

Her? The girl who prides herself in being able to recognize the voice of every member in each song, even when they’re singing the background vocals. She listened to their voices on repeat and Hoseok had sung an entire line to her!

That might as well have been the answer to the million dollar question served on a silver platter but like an ostrich with its head stuck in the sand, she had blatantly ignored the sun’s rays shining down upon her.

With two lucky encounters, Amber is starting to wonder exactly what did she do in her past life to make herself so lucky and yet so unlucky at the same time. She must have saved some famous hero’s life but at the same time farted in his face or something along those lines.

Yeah, sounds about right.

It’s not that she wants an autograph or a selfie, that’ll be nice, but Amber’s personally more interested in just voicing out her appreciation for their work. She wants them to know how thankful she is for their music and how it’s more than just a catchy tune to her.

She’s positive that thousands of fans had probably said the same thing to them during their fan meets. Still, Amber wants to let them know exactly what drives her to stick with them through thick and thin.

What they had created was not just music to her.

It was art.

And as an art student, Amber loves art.

And she blew her chances to thank the artists for birthing their babies.

If this were an anime, smoke would be spewing from her ears and her pupils would be swirling within her eyes.

When she finally raises her head after that long mental monologue, it’s to the sight of Seokjin.

As the self-proclaimed most beautiful member of BTS, his is a face of intense artistic symmetry.

All that artist airbrush nonsense you read in romantic stories when someone describes the main male lead? Or maybe the face you would see when you enter a plastic surgeon’s office asking for the perfect Korean Male look? Perhaps, the face plastered over toothbrush commercials or cosmetic advertisements?

That would be Seokjin.

Everything was just...right. His features appeared to have been set into his face carefully. It was as if the Gods had used a ruler to measure the length of each detail before they sent him into the world.

It’s nothing otherworldly, it’s just visually incredibly appealing to the eye with every feature just the right size, shape and length.

Amber would describe it as looking at an artwork and going like ‘Mmmm those are some good proportions’. It’s kind of like finding a really well-made instagrammable burger after buying thousands of burgers with the beef patty hanging out of the buns and the cheese completely out of the burger itself.

In simpler terms, it’s breathtaking.

He is breathtaking.

She watched as he spreads his arms wide and jogs across the stage, letting the air brush against his clothes as he laughs cheerily. The movement emphasizes his manly frame. The white t-shirt clinging to his body as he moved, the soft material trailing in the mind.

His shoulders were the broadest she’s ever seen. Amber argues that it’s a swimmer’s body, with wide, muscular shoulders that angle downwards to a thin waist and legs that ran for miles. She’s very sure that if she drew the classic male triangle on his body for the base frame of all male figures in art, it would fit so perfectly she would weep tears of joy.

He’s just that triangular and Amber loves it.

Her eyes dart towards the larger screen, distracted by the sudden flash of beige. The camera zoomed into his face. No doubt the cameraman must be an intense Seokjin fan. The screen lights up, each tiny pixel emphasizing on every feature with its ultra high definition quality.

Even when zoomed in, Seokjin is absolutely flawless. It’s definitely not the power of makeup because, with the other members, traces of scars and the little imperfections could be seen when she’s so so so up close.

Seokjin’s skin, however, is smooth and creamy, just like her dollop of moisturizer in its pot. It glows and it’s so smooth, with the tiniest of pores and absolutely no hints of old adolescent scars. At most, it’s just the little sag at the sides of his eyes from eye bags and the tinge of redness at the corners of his nose that indicated that he had rubbed it before stepping onto the stage.

Things she would never ever pick out for a normal person but only does for Seokjin because he’s too beautiful and there’s nothing else to pick out.

His is the classic oval face, with the most symmetrical of eyes. It’s rounded upper lids that stretched further than usual creating an upturned look that gives his eyes a certain kindness not many could achieve. It’s paired with lower lids that curve and cut deeply into the corners of his eyes making them look bigger than normal

It helps that the fats below his eyes are larger than most.

They are extremely obvious, bulging slightly even when he’s not smiling. Those little pouches of fat emphasize the size of his eyes making them look even larger than they already are, puffy and thick at each lift of his lips.

And she knows from watching so many reality videos of him that when his face is swollen with sleep, those puffy mounds of fat would double in size to become the cutest and softest things she’ll ever see.

He doesn’t have the most prominent of male jawlines and it’s a soft shadow on his skin, but his masculine nose, higher and smaller than most Asian men, as well as the thick straightness of his brows, makes up for it. With those features, he could have easily passed off as a Eurasian if not for the monolids of his huge eyes.

The killing blow perhaps would be his lips.

It’s not like Jimin’s rosebud pillows which are the most kissable to Amber, plump and thick in both upper and lower lip.

Seokjin’s are definitely the most well-shaped. It’s everything the artist in Amber would draw for an idealistic lip artwork. It almost looks as if he’s pouting all the time because of the juicy swell at the centre of his lips which contrasts with the thinner tilts at the sides. His upper lip was full with a nice cupid bow that paired well with the extremely plump bottom lip that was just the right size.

In conclusion, Seokjin can never do a resting b*tch face. It’s just physically impossible for him. With those kind warm eyes and pouty lips, in his resting mode, he just looks pretty and asking to be kissed.

Plus, with that obsidian hair and blue eye contacts he’s an exotic kind of pretty and it just kills Amber a little inside whenever he dazes off, staring at something into the distance at something while the other members sing.

Then that beautiful face on the screen contorts into an odd expression.

Amber snaps out of her thoughts when the screen displays a Seokjin who had visibly flinches. 

His eyes widened, growing twice its size from the original hooded expression he had on for his fans and his delectable lips parted into an ‘o’. She watched transfixed as he brushed long slender fingers against parted swollen bottom lip as he exhales. Amber could almost see the puff of warm air from the satin pink of those lumps of muscle. 

Almost.

God. Amber exhales, blowing at her fringe. He’s so so so pretty. Puberty hit him like a makeup artist with a whole bag of Sephora products. Seriously, this man was absolutely beautiful, whoever marries him in the future would definitely birth equally beautiful children no matter how unattractive they looked.

He’s an automatic +100 points to the gene pool.

Although this beautiful being was currently looking extremely spooked.

She watched as an extremely odd expression bloomed across his features. Pink tinges at the edges of his earlobes and spreads across his skin, colouring spans of pale beige into a pretty baby pink.

This was almost the same expression as when he looks at food, but it’s so raw and filled with something she can’t really pinpoint because it’s making her heart skip a beat and her mouth run dry as he stares.

She turns away from the screen opting to look at him. The real man himself, instead of the extremely zoomed in version of him, curious to exactly what he’s looking at and for a moment she’s startled by how close he is to her. He’s almost at the edge of the stage, right at Hoseok’s spot.

And she swears he’s looking at her.

She thinks she meets his eyes. She’s pretty sure she did unless he’s looking at the girl pressed right against her but he-

He winks.

It’s so quick and nothing else moves except his eyes which makes it seem like a trick of the light, but then she’s pressing her hand to her mouth in shock and she doesn’t know if it’s because of her or it’s because of the girls beside her screaming “ _I LOVE YOU JIN_ OPPA (older brother)!” on repeat but-

-He’s blushing. It’s so red, the foundation on his face-it must have been a pretty light coating given the perfectness of his skin- can barely conceal the colour. It explodes across his features, the original soft pink hue turning into a darker shade of pink and spreading down to his neck.

Amber mentally reasons that maybe he’s sick or flustered from dancing too much. Her excuses were dashed when the man himself pressed his palm to cover the bottom half of his face to hide hints of a bright toothy embarrassed smile.

His expression mirrors her own when Hoseok had revealed his true identity and it’s the classic body language of ‘help, I’m embarrassed and shy’.

Then his eyes are darting back to hers, brown with blue, and he just escapes, running frantically to Jimin in a cute little jog. The taller male pressed his face into the younger boy’s shoulder and from afar she can see his lips moving fast as he explains his predicament to his member.

The posture reveals the redness of his neck and the tips of his ears, both not covered by foundation. They are the same pretty pink colour of her Copic marker in cadmium red and the shade reminds Amber of bouquets of roses. It doesn’t help that his neck has traces of lightly bulging veins that indicate the extent of his embarrassment and the stress he’s placing on his body.

She watched perplexed as his eyes darted out to look at her and like a blushing school girl he looks away quickly to stare the opposite direction at the bunch of plastic seats. Jimin is laughing at whatever the hell he said and he's patting the older male, his beautiful eyes curving into pretty little moons of happiness.

Amber’s now even more confused. Is he feeling second-hand embarrassment from the wink?

Her brows furrowed as she moved into a thinking position, tapping her chin with her fingers.

But, Seokjin always winks? He winks at basically everyone who meets his eyes. 

That man loved attention and has a praise-kink.

If he’s really looking at her, he’s probably just looking at all the ARMYs in her corner, and he winked...It doesn’t explain why he’s blushing because he should be used to this.

Hell, he’s been doing this for years. He’s blown kisses to hundreds, winked to thousands and he’s thrust his damned hips to millions. She’s pretty sure he’s also moaned and made sexy voices on reality shows for his fans too.

Plus, he’s not...Young? He’s the oldest in the group, probably already met his soulmate that his agency doesn’t want to reveal, probably has f*cked her thousands of times so it doesn’t make sense-

Ah whatever...He’s adorable. End of story.

“I SWEAR!” MiRi’s shouting in her ear and Amber winced at the sound. “HE WAS TOTALLY LOOKING AT YOU THE WHOLE TIME! WHAT THE HELL? FIRST HOSEOK THEN SEOKJIN?”

Oh.

Oh shit.


	12. GUCCI

Amber leaves soundcheck feeling utterly confused and yet weirdly elated. Her body feels like it's been pumped full of caffeine and whenever she just thinks about her first soundcheck experience, a goofy grin spread across her face.

She tries to lump it to having finally heard BTS live for the first time but really it's more than that.

The short video of her catching Hoseok's sunglasses is trending on Twitter. A fan had secretly filmed their interactions despite the no-phones-during-soundcheck law, risking their own ticket. Thankfully, her face is obscured by the screaming girls beside her and the video is angled such that the words on Hoseok's lips are unreadable.

Thankfully.

Amber doesn't know how the fans would react if they had seen him say 'Give it to me later'. The number of theories that would pop up after would definitely be as explosive and as much as a whole pot of corn in a popcorn machine.

Someone had also taken a video of Seokjin's blush through a crack in the door from outside the venue. Using a superzoom camera, the person had captured the whole 'look-blush-wink-blush harder-run' thing. Another fan had filmed the Jimin and Seokjin exchange resulting in a whole bunch of hashtags like #JinMin trending on social media.

Honestly, hashtags that the fujoshi (yaoi fangirl) in her would use as fuel for her fanfictions. She would have definitely used that video to its full yaoi extent if she had not known the context. Amber chewed on her lips at that thought.

Miri had been very serious about it. She had solemnly sworn on their friendship that Seokjin had been looking at her.

Amber's debated over and over again with MiRi over the possibilities of that.

How could he have blushed so vividly at just her gaze? It's impossible. Hell, she wasn't some kind of succubus or an insanely pretty famous model. Amber was just plain old Amber and there was no way he could have reacted so violently to just her face.

In which MiRi had replied with a "Are you secretly a porn actress on PornHub or something?"

To which Amber had spluttered and choked on her saliva, after screaming a flustered 'NO!'. Truly, saliva choking might just be her hobby at the rate she was going.

Anyway, watching the two videos again had sent her heart racing into speeds that she's so sure would send her into cardiac arrest.

And those sunglasses Hoseok had given her? That shit was GUCCI.

G.U.C.C.I.

Hell. It costs more than her entire net worth and she trembles just holding on to that thing. The brand name and the serial numbers carved into the inside arms of the sunglasses seemed to taunt her, singing the words: BROKE GIRL NOW HAS EXPENSIVE GLASSES THAT ARE REAL AND NOT IMITATIONS~

Damn, her hyperactive imagination had even created a full blown tune for that shit.

Now she's scared to even look at the camo jacket sitting in the hotel room. It's definitely from some luxury brand with prices that could feed thousands of families for a month and she has no clue how she can give Hoseok his stuff back. Either way, Amber's very sure that these things were definitely going to be vacuum packed and sealed for protection the minute she gets home.

They're currently sitting in the queue waiting for the actual concert to start and MiRi's busy video calling Deok-Su to update him on the situation. Amber didn't want to eavesdrop on the English conversation as the only other fluent English Speaker in the two-metre radius of fans sitting beside them. So she opts to head out in search of a water cooler to refill their empty bottles. Without a proper sense of direction, she ends up wandering aimlessly around the stadium searching for a map of sorts.

Amber frowns, perturbed. The toilets are linked to the interior of the stadium and hence it's clamped up with large metal bars to prevent access. That explains the presence of the portable restrooms.

But water coolers were usually located in the toilets, right?

Where the hell are the portable water coolers?

They were going to get dehydrated at this rate.

She turns the corner, moving to an area much more secluded and hidden from public eye intent on asking one of the staff members only to be stopped by a forceful pull of her arm. She turned, inhaling sharply as sharp fingernails dug into her skin and large clammy fingers clamped onto her arm tightly.

Her eyes drifted upwards meeting that of a girl with a rather fierce and determined expression. The stranger stepped up close to her looking as if she's ran a mile just to catch her. Amber is startled by the closeness of this person who leaned towards her, invading her personal space.

"Give...me." The girl states slowly, clearly an infrequent user of the English language. Amber frowned, trying to wrench her hand from the death grip of this girl who was refusing to let go of her arm. The girl's long manicured nails dug into her flesh, forming indents on her skin and pain radiates from that area causing Amber to press her lips together in frustration.

Amber swallowed nervously, eyes trailing over the girl's face, brushing across the huge pom pom earrings and the jewelled choker on her neck. Her style is all Korean, the classic snow white makeup foundation, paired with bright red lips and wispy curled bangs. She would have looked delicate and pretty if not for the sharp glint in her eye and the ugly expression on her face.

 _"Sorry? Please let go of me."_  Amber replied back in fluent Korean, a kind attempt to save the girl from having to use a language she's clearly not comfortable using. Also because she really doesn't want to have to make a scene over this.

" _I'll pay. GUCCI right? I'll pay two times the market price."_

Amber's eyes widened at her words. Her mind immediately linking to the sunglasses Hoseok had given her.

Shit.

 _"Sorry. I can't."_ Amber swallowed thinking back to Hoseok's words. The girl pulled tightly at her arm, breathing hard and fast.

" _1 million won? ($843USD)"_  She said. Amber's expression must have said it all.  _"2 million won? ($1686USD)"_  The girl's expression is solemn and so very serious. Amber faltered.

That's like five times the price of those glasses!

This was seriously one extremely rich girl. Amber's eyes drifted to her clothes, lingering on the Louis Vuitton print label at the edge of her collar. The stranger appeared to be very serious on paying her the cash and the broke Amber is mentally weeping tears when she blurts out her next few words.

 _"I'm sorry, it's not for sale. Please, let me go."_  Amber shook her head. She's a loyal girl and she's not selling something she's intent on returning to the owner. She's very sure the chances of her meeting Hoseok again is low but he had given those items to her out of goodwill and as a moral citizen she must give it back.

Selling it would be like selling his kindness to a stranger.

The stranger must have seen the resolution on her face because she changes her tactic, giving her a pitiful expression.

 _"Please, I really need it."_  Desperation clung to her words thick and sticky like hardening resin on her fingers.

 _"J-Hope is my everything."_  The stranger exhales, a fond almost crazed smile on her lips.  _"I love him to death and without that sunglasses, I will, literally, die."_ The girl pleaded, her voice frantic and getting increasingly louder with each word.

The sheer amount of desperate emotion behind her every word was shocking to Amber. It's a desperation that is not easy to fib and the way she says it makes it almost seem as if they were fighting for something much more precious than a piece of metal.

But, this was no desert and what she wanted was not a sip of water so that she won't die from the heat.

 _"I'm really sorry, but I've already promised to return this..."_  Amber's voice trailed off into a whisper as she watched the girl before her grew increasingly angry.

The girl growled, eyes turning wild. Her pupils darting all over her face madly as she ground her teeth together. She dug her manicured nails into her skin harshly. It's hard enough to break skin and it pierces through her peach flesh to sink into her bloodstream. Amber flinched as the girl loomed over her, shoulders heaving with each laboured breath

" _GIVE IT TO ME!_ " She shrieked, beautiful face contorting into an almost demonic expression as she screamed in Amber's face, rancid breath fanning across her face and bits of spittle spewing from painted lips. Amber trembled as she watched the girl with wide eyes, having never seen such an unreasonable character in her life.

She's definitely a sasaeng (obsessive fan).

Amber realizes and starts to regret walking to such a secluded corner.

Obsessive fans did anything and everything to get closer to their idols. There was no reasoning with them. She's very sure this girl was the kind to buy pee off eBay that claimed to be that of BTS's and drink it every morning for breakfast just to be closer to her idols.

Shit. This was what BTS had to face every day?

 _"Excuse Me!"_  Amber turned to see an older woman walk up towards them in quick strides, interrupting them with a loud clear voice. " _Please stop this. I will be complaining to the staff members and the police if you continue to harass this girl!"_  The sasaeng beside her visibly froze, letting go of Amber's hand and taking a quick wide step back.

The sudden release of pressure was almost painful and Amber exhaled, raising her arm to view the damage. If the circle of red on her skin is any indication of how tightly the sasaeng had held her, the five red moons leaking blood is already clear evidence that the girl's grip had clearly gone out of hand.

She gently prodded the redness and winced.

Bad move.

Amber cursed under her breath as pain spread across her skin. That was definitely going to bruise. Her body had muted the feelings of pain in her moment of fear and now with the protection of her savior, she's starting to feel its effects clearly.

The woman approached her gently with warm hands murmuring words of pity as she dabbed at her wounds with an alcohol wipe. Amber watched as the older lady turned to glare at the sasaeng. If looks could kill, Amber swears that sasaeng would be shot by a rifle gun, bombed by a landmine and shot with a missile from her saviour's glare alone.

 _"Shame on you!"_  The woman spat out vehemently.  _"Hurting others when you can't get what you want? Shame on you!"_

" _Aunty..._ " The sasaeng tried to reason looking embarrassed and guilty.

 _"Go away before I actually call the cops!"_ The woman clipped back. The girl faltered, eyes darting towards Amber and a chill ran up her spine as the girl gives her a dark glare. Shit.  _"I am not afraid of risking my ticket to get you out of here, young lady!"_  The woman stated pointedly. Amber watched as the girl dashed away without looking back.

Good bloody riddance.

 _"Are you alright dear? God, that bruise looks really bad. If only we had some ice..."_  The woman fussed over her, dabbing at her skin quickly to clean up the bacteria. _"Such a rude girl. Her mother must not have taught her well."_

 _"Thank you, Ma'am?"_  Amber fumbled a little trying to switch her Korean to the more polite and formal variation of the language.  _"Without your help, I would not have known what to do... Thank you so much."_

 _"It's alright. I'm assuming you were looking for water as well?"_  The woman smiled kindly at her and Amber's taken aback by how good she looks. The older lady is beautiful. She's a classic Korean beauty with almost symmetrical features and large doe-shaped eyes framed by soft long lashes. She's aged gracefully with pretty wrinkles at the corners of her eyes that indicated a lifetime of constant laughter and her skin's barely affected by her age remaining perky and bright, very unlike that of her peers.

She reckons the woman is about 35, but the way she speaks as if she were her mother speaks volumes of her actual age, Honestly, if you had a baby as a kid you wouldn't be treating a 20-year-old like a baby.

At least that's what Amber thinks.

 _"Oh yes."_  Amber nods, replying to the lady's question.

 _"I've checked. It's really quite unfortunate but the nearest one on this side of the part of the stadium is not working. Perhaps, we should head towards the other direction?"_ The woman gestures towards the direction Amber came from.

 _"Ah? Okay!"_ Amber nods as she follows the woman towards the seats. As they walk Amber's noticing things about the lady beside her. With her hairstyle in a classy bob and a simple single gem necklace, she's dressed simply in a classy cadmium yellow coat and t-shirt with jeans. Her fashion choice deletes years from her age, making her look younger than she probably was.

" _Ah, that coat looks so good on you!"_  Amber can't help but say.  _"Oh my, where did you get it?"_

Tip of the day: Praise woman for things they can change.

 _"Ah? My son bought it for me. Hehehe. I'm not too sure where he bought it, but it's pretty isn't it?"_  The woman blushed prettily, face lighting up the minute she mentions her offspring, who's clearly old enough to purchase clothes for his mom.

At this point, Amber's quite sure the pretty woman before her must be in her mid-40s.

So cute. Amber swoons in her mind. She loves these kinds of wholesome relationships.

_"Wow, he has a good eye! It's a really happy colour and makes you so much more youthful!"_

_"Aw, you're just being sweet, dear!"_

_"Oh no, I'm not kidding. I have clothes in a similar shade and it really makes me look really happy. I love cadmium yellow!"_  Amber swiper her phone and showed the woman a picture of her outfit at the art museum.

Yes,  **that**  accursed art museum.

_"Ah, this art museum?"_

_"Do you go to this museum too, Ma'am?"_ Amber smiled at her brightly.

" _Why, yes I do. They sell art jewellery that I just love to buy. "_

 _"OMG! ME TOO!"_  Amber beamed at her. You can't help but fall in love with your hero. Amber now gets why princesses marry the prince that saved them. You just can't help but see them in this holy golden light and the more the woman talks the more she likes her.

Amber paused to pull out her purse from her tote bag, she unclips it and pulls out the plastic bag fishing inside of it for the jewellery. She gently peeled open the plastic, revealing the two beautiful earrings.

Inspired by Kintsukuroi (Golden Repair), a type of Japanese art that involved the repairing of broken pottery with mixed powdered gold, the earrings are mixed media artworks consisting of two tiny translucent resin plates that reminded her of the moon. Along its smooth surface are intricate cracks that cut across the plate in webs of brilliant shimmery gold.

She's brought it with her simply because...

She bought it and left it in her purse because she's too lazy to take it out.

And she completely forgot about it.

That's all.

Spoken like a true lazy bum.

_"Oh my! That's so beautiful!"_

_"It's such a work of art isn't it?"_  Amber replied. She glanced at the older woman and watched as the lady's gaze grew warm with longing at the look of the earring. Her eyes twinkling as she awed and ahhed over the earrings.  _"Do you want it, Ma'am?"_

 _"Huh?"_  The woman froze in shock looking a little sheepish.  _"Oh no, I couldn't possibly."_  The lady shook her head frantically.

 _"I bought two pairs for my Mom, but I'm sure she would be fine if I gave one pair to you."_ Amber smiled. Art is meant to be shared. Spread the love, spread the joy, makes life a better place.  _"Please take it. I really can't thank you enough."_

Honestly, Amber's nearly shat her pants by that whole fiasco. If not for this woman she would have burst into tears at some point. Goodwill should always be rewarded. Plus, Amber's sure the woman would look lovely with these earrings and her outfit.

_"Ah no-"_

_"Please, I insist."_ Amber placed the work in the older woman's palm firmly and smiled. The lady laughs and takes it from her gently, murmuring her thanks as she marvels at the design. She raises the trinket up, letting the light filter through the translucent plates making the jewellery twinkle under the sun.

 _"Ah, it's really so pretty. Perhaps I'll wear it now."_ She said, unclipping her own simple gold studs and replacing it with the earrings. They really do look very pretty on her, enhancing the elegance she already exuded and adding on to her already attractive features.

_"It looks so good on you! Should I take a photo for you?"_

_"Yes please!"_  The woman nods and passes over her phone. Amber takes it to snap a few quick pictures not before directing the woman cheerily into more flattering positions. They both peered at the photos through her gallery app and the woman makes that funny (to Amber) Korean sound that depicts her loud approval. It's kind of cute and somehow makes Amber feel much more familiar with the woman after she's made the sound.

The woman then swipes out of the gallery application to check the time. Jungkook's face winked back at her cheerily.

       

 _"Oh?"_  Amber smiled.  _"Is Jungkook your bias_ (slang for favourite character)?"

The woman is startled and glanced at her confused for a second. Amber gestured to her phone.

 _"Ah...I do love him the most, that is for sure."_  She replied, looking fondly at the picture. On a closer look, Amber whistles appreciatively.

In this picture, Jungkook's laughing so hard wrinkles have formed at the corners of his eyes, tilting upwards and spreading outwards into cute little rumples of skin. It's just enough to indicate happiness but not enough to make him look older than he was. His nose is all scrunched up cutely and his mouth is open to reveal sets of pearly white teeth, alluding to loud barks of laughter.

It's an extremely happy high definition photograph of him which is something very unlike the usual photographs of the maknae (youngest member) online.

Despite being the youngest of the group, Jungkook is also the media's proclaimed sexiest. His photos from concerts commonly consisted of sexy little smirks and hip thrusts. It's also led to...Amber inhaled sharply at the thought. Many fans creating fan accounts dedicated to his bulge.

Amber mentally groaned, but she guessed this was what happens when you thrust your hips in front of a million fans on repeat in skinny jeans.

Aside from the delirious happiness in this photograph, there's a softness to those large doe eyes she's not used to seeing and her heart warms at the sight.

Cute.

 _"That picture's beautiful."_  Amber murmurs.  _"Hehe. I can't say that he's my bias but I do care for him."_

 _"Hm? What do you like about him?"_  The lady asked.

 _"Ah,"_ Amber hummed softly, tapping her chin deep in thought. She turned to smile at the woman.  _"His determination."_

 _"Oh? Not his face huh?"_ The older woman looked genuinely shocked at her reply.

Gah. Was that all you liked about Jungkook, lady? That's kind of superficial isn't it?

 _"Oh no. Sorry, it's just..."_  Amber hummed softly to herself.  _"He's dreamed about this, "_ Amber waved her arms at the stadium,  _"for so long and even though he's achieved so much he's still fighting so hard every day."_ Amber laughs fondly.  _"I dance a bit as a pastime and I can really tell that he's pushing to work as hard as he can just to show the best he can be for his fans! Even way past his limits."_

Amber gave the woman a cheeky smile and an exasperated little shake of her head for good measure. _"Sometimes I wish I could tell him to really, really take care of himself and not just say it but only continue to push himself to the breaking point."_ Amber fibbed an angry face and wagged her finger in the air.  _"Like, Boy, could you just drink some water and get some rest for 5 minutes? Sit the hell down! The fans won't mind if you take a little break."_

_"That's what I tell him all the time!"_

_"Ah?"_

_"F-Fan meets. I've met him a few times."_

_"That explains the really good picture."_

_"Good answer by the way. I've not heard that from his younger fans."_

_"Ah, they usually swoon about his good looks, don't they?"_

_"Yes...It's always the same answer: Oppa is so handsome~"_

_"Hehehe. Of course he is. He's got good genes, his Mom must be exceptionally beautiful."_

_"OMO."_ The woman coughed.  _"Y-you think so?"_

"AMBs! GET YOUR ASS HERE! WE'RE ENTERING SOON!" MiRi's voice broke their chatter and Amber glanced up to see her best friend waving to her.

Oh Shit. They needed the water. She spots a staff member at the other line selling bottled water from a large cardboard box. Amber nods to the lady and sprints towards the staff member. She forks up the cash and grabs the two bottles in breakneck speed. The very next second, she's cutting back into the line and standing beside MiRi, panting a little but holding up the bottled water in victory.

"Damn girl, what happened?" MiRi raised a brow at her.

"God, I'm really the unluckiest today. The water cooler down that aisle is broken and I met a-"

_"Oh my! Miss! You're in front of me?"_

Amber turned to see the same older woman smiling at her. Damn, standing seat buddies. Who would have known?

 _"Oh my! Hello!"_ Amber smiled. Oh, yeah the woman was looking for water too. She glanced at the bottles in her hand.

One less wouldn't hurt right?

_"You didn't get a bottle right? Do you want this one?"_

_"Are you sure? Ah-hold on let me get the money to pay you,"_ the woman fumbled in her wallet and groaned as she pulled out large bills. " _Any chance you have enough change?"_

Amber fished in her wallet and turned to look at MiRi who shook her head and flashed her, her credit card.

Damn. You people need to stop being so rich and bring some small cash.

_"It's okay. Please take this."_

_"You sure?"_

_"I insist!"_

_"Oh, thank you so much."_  The woman bowed and Amber blushed at the sight bowing quickly while they walked through the lines. It's a weird bow that consists of crab walking and an awkward jerk of her hips. She's got no time to feel embarrassed about it because at the very next second they're at the gates again and the staff is scanning their tickets to enter the venue once again.

**A/N: T** **he water part is a true story btw-- > Only my friends and I were the ones without the water. Two kind ladies from Malaysia handed us a bottle for free (because none of us had small change) **

 


	13. The Calm, Before The

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that I wrote the lyrics myself...There's no such song that's why the lyrics kinda suck HAHAHAHAH shit. 
> 
> Also, if RM ever reads this (oh my god pls pray he never finds this) I might just pass away from embarrassment. The main reason why I didn't just write my story using their names in the first place is because I felt really bad. I mean imagine if someone wrote a fanfic of you having sex with the sorting hat in Hogwarts. LIKE BITCHHHHHH IM DYING. XD Not like I'm writing anything about them having sex with an animated object but STILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL *cue screams* 
> 
> Life was so much easier when I wrote fanfics about 2D people...I could just exploit them without a care in the world.

It's...hot.

Amber's sitting cross-legged on the floor and despite the temperatures being cool enough to warrant the use of a jacket. The masses of bodies clamped together, pressing forward for a closer view of the stage results in a bubble of intense body heat that radiates large amounts of carbon dioxide from their collective breaths.

When sited, she feels almost claustrophobic just looking at the sea of legs surrounding her like a jail cell. There are way too many people around them, that's for sure, and the closeness of pressed bodies creates a warmth that makes Amber gag a little.

There's just no fresh air coming in from any direction, even though she's plastered to the railings, once again close to the stage courtesy of the low numbered ticket. They're not near to the main stage, rather they're now close to the large diamond-shaped platform at the very centre of the stadium. From online videos, Amber knows that this would be where the BTS members would perform for the second half of their show.

Here, the stage is much lower and the railings are much closer to the stage, promising a chance for fans and idols to interact, which explains why the fans were all eagerly pressing forward, trying to get as close to the stage as possible.

Amber took another sip from their bottled water. Honestly, she should have rationed it properly seeing that it's a few minutes before the start of their three-hour show and she's down to basically the last mouth full. MiRi is someone who hates plain water so she doesn't drink much of it. Unless Deok-Su asked her to, so she's not as thirsty as Amber who naturally radiates more body heat than most people.

Beside her, the woman (Seriously she should ask her for her name but Amber's not too sure about Korean etiquette) gives her a small smile, cooling herself down with a Japanese fan. MiRi was furiously texting Deok-Su glancing at Amber every now and then with weird fangirling expressions. Basically, flared nostrils, reddening cheeks, a grin too big to be normal and the occasional glance at Amber.

Amber scoffed, shaking her head slightly.

She's very sure MiRi's updating Deok-Su on her meetings with the BTS members, possibly shipping her with them. God, she better not do anything funny. Oh, that reminds her...Amber tapped at MiRi's hand and the girl glanced up at her.

"You better remember to not scare my soulmate if I get a body exchange." Amber looked at her pointedly.

"Yeah, of course." MiRi nodded, putting down her phone to give Amber a steady look. "I'm actually concerned with communication though. What if our pal doesn't speak a word of English? What do I say?"

"Wave? Speak every language you know?" Amber shrugged. 70% of communication is non-verbal.

"You know, with your multilingual status, I'm guessing maybe fate will play a joke on you and give you a soulmate who does not speak one of the languages you know. Like maybe Thai?"

"You know, 20% of the world's population speaks English. I'm counting on that."

"Aye, sounds like a plan." MiRi nods. "I think I'm ready." MiRi puts her fists on her hips and gives her a superman pose which elicits a giggle from Amber's lips.

"I trust you, BFF."

MiRi sniffs and smiles. "Just don't panic if you find yourself in a weird situation. I've heard of people popping up in the middle of the weirdest situations, but the tame and realistic ones are the scariest."

"Like?"

"Mid-pee."

"Holy fu-"

"Exactly my point. Mid-shit is actually better than mid-pee because at least it's the same."

"In that case...Isn't mid-jerking-"

"If that happens, count yourself lucky." MiRi waggled her brows. "Not many get to experience the pleasures of both human bodies."

"Urgh God. I think I'll just hope for the best."

"Yes, enjoy it while it lasts. It might just be a tame little first-word tattoo. That'll be nice."

Their conversation is broken by screams that erupt from the fans beside them and Amber crans her neck for a look only to be highly disappointed. She sighed. The girls beside them kept screaming repeatedly on seeing their bias on the large screens. It piques her interest each time, making her curious on whether or not the concert was actually really, really starting. Only to be disappointed on seeing just the music videos on the screens.

Not like she hates the music videos. Amber softly hums to the tune as she flips through her messages. It's great hearing the songs live in such a wide open space. She paused to open her messaging application to send a quick reply to her parents.

Her Mom and Dad had texted her an entire series of good lucks and happy birthdays. Her Dad had sent her a whole infographic picture on what to do if stranded in a foreign country and her Mom had emailed her a whole file on the world's list of possible soul bonds from A-Z.

Amber's pretty sure she knows all of them by heart, perks of being the daughter of a soul bond researcher, and reading them now sent a jittery shock of possible fear through her heart which doesn't pair well with the exhilaration she feels for the concert.

She's a pessimist, so the soul bond, while absolutely beautiful and something Amber is definitely looking forward to, is also as scary as taking a national exam without studying. Both equally, spontaneous in nature.

And having your national exam right after meeting the idols of your life can result in a weird stunted feeling that makes you want to vomit and scream in joy at the same time. Either that or shit your pants and sing 'Hallelujah' at the same time. 

" _I couldn't help hearing your conversation. Your friend said it's your_ birthday?" Amber glanced at the older lady, aka saviour of the day. She's clearly no English speaker and she pronounces the word 'birthday' with a heavy Korean accent. Amber smiled.

" _Oh yeah!"_ Amber nods.  _"It is! At about...10.30pm?"_

_"Wow...Directly after the concert, are you scared?"_

Amber chuckled. Her laughter sounded like the sound a dying goat would make.

_"Very."_

_"Don't worry, fate will work things out for you. My husband and I had a dream meeting soulmark, so we met in our sleep on the night of his birthday."_

_"Oh, your husband is younger than you?"_

_"Yes, he's younger than me by about 6 years. I had to wait for quite a while, I was quite convinced that I would live the rest of my years alone."_ The woman smiled, eyes far away, deep in thought.

 _"Oh,"_ Amber gave her a pained smile. It's not the age. She's not one to judge age gaps. Age is just a number in love and you should be thankful that there's someone for you in this world. It's the length of time the woman was left in the dark before knowing that she had a soulmate. 6 years was really quite unheard of. The world statistics for that would be like 1 in five million people. " _What about your son?"_

 _"His soulmate appears to be younger than him."_ The older woman shook her head sadly. Oh. Amber pursed her lips together. He's probably had no mark on his birthday. From experience, she knows how much of a happy occasion the soul mark time can be. Some families really go all out in the celebration and they wait together with the recipient. It's common enough for a person to get a soul bond mark on their birthday for it to be an actual celebration.

It's like waiting at the computer to see if you've entered your dream university. It's either a yes or a no, simple as that. Having no soul bond would equate to the website crashing and you're stuck with a 'loading, please wait.'

It sucks when the time passes by and everyone just finds out that you're another one of those unlucky rare people who are on 'pending.'

" _He's passed the 1 year mark just a few months back. I keep telling him that it's fine, I mean look at his parents! But, he's growingly convinced he'll have to live alone."_ The lady said.

Amber glanced at her and furrowed her brows in thought.  _"1 year is still okay though...I mean there's still a decent chance his soulmate isn't...Indisposed."_

Indisposed aka long dead from some unlucky event. The percentages for this really depends. It increases when there's conflict and rising death tolls, and falls when there's peace and harmony.

Car accidents still happen though.

_"I know! But, it's probably because all his best friends have no soulmate as well. It pains him to see them lose hope over the years so he decided to just assume he'll have no soulmate too, saves him the heartache. "_

_"That's really sad. He shouldn't give up so easily."_ Amber frowned. " _I'm sure his best friends would be really supportive."_

_"I think so too. Anyway, don't worry dear. I'll keep an eye out for you as well."_

_"Thank you. I'll really appreciate it. I trust MiRi but in the unlikely event, it'll be nice to have someone help her out."_ Amber glanced at her best friend who's back to sending kissy-face selfies to Deok-Su.

" _You never know...Maybe you're my son's soulmate."_

Amber blinked.

" _Um, Ma'am I would love that but-"_

_"I'm joking! And call me Da-hee."_

Oh, finally a name to the face. Amber's startled that she's given her, her name instead of a surname to address her.

" _Oh, I'm Amber."_

They shook hands on it.

Amber takes a sip from the gradually emptying bottle. The music is growing increasingly louder and Amber's heart is racing as she stood up to take a look at the stage. A different kind of video begins to play, as each member poses to a sick beat. It results in high pitched screams from the fans and she just knows that the concert is definitely about to start.

Amber turned her gaze back to her surroundings, watching as the lightsticks begin to glow. They pulsated to the beat in washes of colour, spreading across the stadium in waves that start from the centre stage. The artist in Amber trembles at the sight, speechless at the beauty.

You know the feeling when you watch a firework display or see stars in the sky?

This was exactly the same. With the evening glow of the sky, dimming into a pretty orange purple hue that had streaks of pink and blue stretched across its surface. It allowed for the light sticks to glow even brighter. They're like miniature fireflies that spread across the stadium with every beat of the music, pulsating faster and faster in waves of blues, pinks and purples.

The bulbs of colours dance over darkened bodies, bouncing and moving and there's a certain almost ethereal quality to them. With the collective shaking of each fan's raised hand, it's more than just a concert. It's a phenomenon of the masses. It's a timeless artwork that's more than just technical lights and special effects.

This was a whole bunch of fans who loved their idols and watching those dancing lights overt the seas of darkened faces. Amber's heart is full of joy. Now she understands why the members would tear up sometimes at the sight. To be so dearly loved by so many people.

It was mind-blowing and so utterly beautiful.

With that, Amber feels like the sight was already worth the money and she could go home in peace now.

JK, she needs to see her boys!

The screens blackout and she watched enraptured as crescendoing music plays. A sharp jet of fire bursts forth from the stage, illuminating its surroundings in an orange glow and beside her fans were going crazy. They surged forward like a tsunami, pressing onto her body, but Amber's too gone to even care.

The beginning tunes of one of their numerous hit songs begin to play and the boys step out dressed in the most beautiful and glittery of outfits and Amber's breath is taken from her body as her seven idols began to sing.

       

**Sitting alone in your confines, your pockets are empty, there's nothing inside~**

A delirious bubble of happiness courses through her veins in unrelenting waves and her initial feelings of heat, claustrophobia and thirst just washes away into nothingness. Her mind completely and utterly distracted by them.

**When the sky darkens into a purple glow, you walk like a zombie tripping over your own toes~**

You know the feeling when you really need to pee but then your friend tells you earth-shattering news and you just completely lose the urge as if it evaporated in your bladder or your body had sucked back the pee?

**Fountains open, you get washed in poison that corrodes your insides and turns you mindless ~**

The same thing except Amber knows the reason is that she's completely distracted by the boys.

**You drink to your youth and you say no to the cotton candy you once used to consume~**

F*ck was she screwed.

**Why not just live your life like how you like? Don't work so hard, just enjoy?**

God damn you BTS lyrics. Amber allows herself to get consumed by the music, completely forgetting about her worries as the soulmate thing washes away to the furthest end of her mind as she sings to their tunes.

After this Amber's very sure she's never ever going to stop being their fan.

Youtube? Pshaw! That's never going to beat the live version. 

The 3 hours pass by in a whirlwind of song and music. They're dancing so hard and singing so well, it's almost inhumanely impossible.

Amber's heart had twisted in pain when she sees the sweat dripping from their brows and the tenseness of their shoulders as their bodies protested from the exertion. With squinted eyes, she spots them hiding backstage, bodies bent with their hands on their knees to catch their breaths before entering to dance their part of the song. They seemed so tired, hidden under the shadows of the props and equipment.

The minute they're on stage, it's all wide smiles that concealed their fatigue. Nevertheless, the sheer amount of joy radiating from them is genuine and Amber can't help but smile at that. It's very obvious when an artist loves their artwork and she's thankful.

Oh so, so thankful that they are her artists.

Their voices barely tremble despite the dancing. There's no hint of the panting exhales of breath or the voice breaks that comes when you run and talk at the same time. She's sure technology helps in that aspect, masking the rough sounds of exhaled breaths and the little trembles that cannot be avoided.

Nevertheless, Amber's so impressed that she can't help but applaud whenever one of them hits a high note or raps at breakneck speed while executing a flawless choreography,

This was years of hard work squeezed into a 3-hour show and Amber's a little teary-eyed as she watches them sing.

She doesn't even notice when the minutes tick by drawing closer and closer to her birthday.

**10**

They're so close to her, standing right in front of her, having travelled across the long aisle that led to the diamond-shaped platform and Jungkook takes centre stage. As usual, the sexy  _maknae_  is giving his fans bedroom eyes, hot burning stares that just warms you not in the cute PG13 way.

Dressed in a simple silky button-up long-sleeve, a leather body harness is wrapped around his body, pressing into all the right places. It's strapped tightly to his lower abdomen, stretching across his chest. It's held in place by the two shoulder straps with silver buckles.

**9**

It emphasizes on the tightness of his body muscles and those black shimmery leather jeans which clung tightly to his hips for their dear life. The minute he gives an experimental hip thrust, tongue sticking out naughtily. The sudden movement is enough for basically every fan around him to perfectly make out the exact shape of his bulge, which catches the light perfectly, curling around his male appendage and highlighting it's size and shape.

Amber gasped in shock, face colouring rapidly as her initial yells of 'YEAH!'s and 'WHOO-HOO's died down into a silent scream. The fans around her roared almost going animalistic at the sight, their loud shrieks starting to sound borderline blood-curdling.

Amber's not your average concert screamer. She just doesn't really know what to scream so the way she cheers sounds exactly like the sounds you make while watching someone dance in a dance class.

Amber took a glance at the fans, noting the perverted glints in their thirsty eyes. They were breathing heavily as their screams got louder and even more high pitched at the sight of him. She gulped turning back to stare at the male incubus before her.

**8**

Good God. Is he even aware of what he does to all these blood-thirsty women?

**7**

Amber's mouth goes dry as he runs his hands through dark inky locks. He glanced up at her section, looking at his fans from under thick long lashes that fanned over his skin whenever he blinks. Amber squints, trying to get a better look of those long thin strands of fanned out hair.

Yup, super damn long.

It doesn't help that he has huge doe eyes emphasized by an extremely prominent set of double eyelids. It's kind of like those female anime character's eyes, all big, sparkly and with a single clear defining eyelid line. This was then outlined by thick, slightly downward facing straight brows. Amber groaned, feeling a tinge of jealousy in her heart at the sight of those beautiful eyes.

Jungkook's eyes are the largest and prettiest in the group, but despite the rather feminine look, he's arguably the most masculine.

**6**

Jungkook has a high bridged nose which is tall at the upper part of his face but slides down softly. It curves slightly at the tip of his nose into a shape that is a little soft but still very pretty.

His lips are on the thinner side which should have been his flaw if not for his bottom lip. His saviour.

It is just the perfect amount of plump deleting the initial 'thin-fish lips' status one would assume with just the sight of his upper lip. These features were all set into a small face that is, surprisingly, sharper and much more angular than most handsome Asian males.

**5**

It is no doubt that the sharpness of his jaw and the muscles on his body from weekly visits to the gym aside from his daily dance practices, just screams: I AM A MAN. It's not beefy. It's not thick slabs of hard muscle that wrapped the bone in huge chunks. This was sinewy and lean muscles on a thin body. It's the kind of underwear model's body and it helps that his waist is small which makes his shoulders appear broader than it is.

**4**

She watched as he bounces to the beat, mike pressed close to his pink lips. He sways his hips, feet moving across the stage in slow, carefully dragged movements as he spins prettily with body waves that end with pops and locks of his body. The light bounces off his skin and he turns to give his fans a deadly smirk, revealing hints of pretty teeth.

**3**

He finally decides to stop bursting ovaries and doubled over laughing happily. It's a bright smile that forms the very same laughing wrinkles at the sides of his eyes, the cute nose scrunch and all. He turns jogging lightly to her direction, huge doe eyes wide open as he stares into the crowd. He squints at something to her left and suddenly his whole face lights up like the sun.

It's so unlike him. The smile is genuine and he looks so so so happy. His eyes are twinkling under the light as he beams so brightly that the dimples on his cheeks sink deeper than ever. Amber is reminded of the picture she had seen earlier on her saviour's phone and her heart pounds faster as links were steadily being made in her mind. Amber turned to look spotting said woman giving a wave, looking a little teary eyed.

" _JUNGKOOK-AH! MOM IS SO PROUD OF YOU!"_ Da-hee screamed, hands cupping lips. Amber turned watching, as the singer pursed his lips eyes turning red as he waves back to his mother. Traces of tears spilling from the corners of beautiful eyes as he gives a final wave before walking back into position to begin his dance, his eyes never leaving his mother.

Oh.

Ohhhhhh.

**2**

She has no time to dwell on her thoughts, too distracted by Jungkook.

Then his gaze flitters across the crowd, not really looking. He turns, taking each step in long strides, catwalk-like strides. The music changes as the next song plays into a haunting but fast beat melody that Amber loves. Her lips stretched at the familiar tune feeling a variety of emotions flicker across her mind. Jungkook pressed his lips to the silver microphone as he sways his hips to the beat

**No worries on our mind, no questions to be solved, we are freed from our chains~**

His voice is beautiful. He has one of the widest ranges in the group, leaning towards the higher side and by that range could be quite effeminate. Nevertheless, his voice remains largely masculine. It's like thick rich dark chocolate-flavoured sauce drizzled on top of whip cream in a huge beaker of milk, only for you to mix in a generous amount of aromatic but bitter coffee.

His voice is just like a mocha frappuccino only with more coffee than sugar. The kind that's smooth and creamy, with a tang of bitterness that wraps effortlessly with the sweetness of the syrup.

Damn. Amber's kind of thirsty for a mocha frappuccino now.

**Let's just laugh and face a new day with smiles on our faces~**

He grins and inhales deeply for the high pitch note. Oh, God. He lets the sound loose, his voice steadily going higher up the scale as he sings. It's a clear sound that echoes across the stadium, bell-like and angelic. Goosebumps popped over her skin and Amber's heart flutters as she watches him.

Beautiful.

"AMBER!" MiRi's voice trails from her left."AMBER!"

**Because nothing matters when we're together~**

His eyes drifted to meet hers as he wraps up the flawless note.

Hazel with dark brown.

**1**

 


	14. Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Jungkook is not half Chinese, but he is in this story XD

There's no in between. There's no whoosh as if you're sliding down a slide or a sudden change of pressure as if you've dunked your head into the water. It's not a slow gradual shift as she loses control of her own body. It's not a pleasant exchange where you're actually given time to understand what was going one.

It's just one minute she's there. The next second, she's not.

The onslaught of sudden, very different feelings is hard to grasp. Her mind is unable to register exactly what was going on and there are so many new feelings that Amber's alarmed. Her heart races beneath a chest that feels much wider than normal.

There's a lightness to this body, a sudden absence of weight at her front and there are new feelings.

Too many new feelings

It's only because this body has already adjusted to the environment that she doesn't keel over or react violently. If it hadn't been, Amber swears that she would have vomited her guts out right then and there. Her mind wants to vomit. It wants to protest and scream. It wants to spasm and go into cardiac arrest.

The change is a sensory overload that's too different and too stark.

It's bright, very very bright and yet her eyes don't adjust to the light. For a brief second, her mind blanks and she can't register anything. She can't see, can't hear, can't speak. Nothing. It's a moment of acceptance, of understanding, of her mind registering.

Her brain slowly starts to accept the feelings. It starts first with the little soft changes that aren't too scary. Like the brush of bangs on her forehead, the press of something wrapped around her body, holding the soft silky shirt in place. The airy lack of a bra, her skin misses the cling of stretchy fabric and the sting of wire.

Then there's a sudden presence of something that feels between her legs.

It sticks to her thighs, soft and arguably dangly...Amber exhales, her breath coming out in quick pants as she swallows. The strange feeling of different shaped teeth is prevalent, and the aftertaste of sweet mints but it's familiar and it's nothing like the...The thing hanging between her legs.

Whatever it was, (okay honestly, Amber knows exactly what the hell it was) it's highly disturbed by the tightness of these jeggings, pushing it into a position that's strangely uncomfortable.

There's a sudden change in height and a distinct lack of softness in her body, each movement is coupled with the contorting and stretch of warmed muscles that she would have never been able to feel so vividly in her own body. This body is warm, it's as if she had just done some intense exercise leading to an inner heat from within. It's pumping with adrenaline that makes her want to run for miles and jump a thousand times.

She's disoriented. Fingers trembling as she grips tightly onto something metallic and cool in her hand.

Amber inhaled sharply and a distinct natural scent hits her nose, wafting around her body like a cloud. It's a little sweet. A natural smell that reminds her of the sweet musk of black vanilla, with the spice of pears and the odd burn that reminds her of the sea. It's subtle and refreshing, hidden by the sharp dose of some form of deodorant. A chemical cloying sweetness that masks the saltiness of the sweat dripping from her body.

If she tilts her nose away from her pits, aka the area doused with deodorant, she swears the amazing smell gets stronger but it takes a lot of sniffing to really get a good grip of the scent.

Speaking of smells, the nose before her eyes really was super sharp.

It's definitely different. For one, it's taller and sharper. She sees it because she's not used to the height and it stands out from between her vision, kind of like an insult to the flatness of her actual nose.

Amber frowns. She's not used to the length of her eyelashes. She's not used to the hair. She's not used to the lack of boobs nor the sudden gain of something meaty in her pants. She's not used to everything.

What the hell was going on?

Then she stops and just-

Stares.

Moments pass as her eyes flicker across the scene before her. Pupils darting around rapidly as she surveys her environment.

Stage.

It's a concert. Her mind swarms as her eyes flicker across darkened unfamiliar faces holding sticks of light, their confused gazes push her to take steps back as she smiled sharply at the thousands of strangers before her.

The feeling of eyes makes her pulse quicken even faster than before and the muscles cramp up a little. There's a sinking feeling in her gut, it feels like her stomach had eaten a lemon and was cringing at the taste, swirling with a deep deep ache.

Fear. Gut-wrenching fear.

Calm the f*ck down Ambrosia. She soothed in her mind. Calm the f*ck down.

She inhales trying to register everything, and she's suddenly made aware of the very same familiar tune that pounds in the background. The deep base vibrating beneath her feet and over her skin. Then Amber's spinning to look and distinctively she hears people screaming as she stares at the familiar minimalistic icon.

It looms at her even more ominous than the clock in the exam room. It's even more ominous than the stickman outside the toilet she had met Taehyung in.

It's like seeing a red balloon after watching the It movie or the feeling when you're at the top of a roller coaster and you suddenly realize you're f*cked because your seatbelts just came apart under your hands.

This was the f*cking BTS concert.

She-He?- pressed her fingers to lips. God...no, no, no. NO. She glanced back at what she thinks should be where her original body stands. Her eyes fluttering over each head, trying to find the familiar red of her best friend or maybe Da-Hee's short bob. Maybe even her own pixie cut. But, it's dark and difficult to see when there's a bright spotlight burning your retinas.

Her mind is too frazzled to make any good judgement, and she's sure if you bring her out to the garden and ask her to point to the soil. She would point at the sky. She's pretty sure if you asked her what is 1 + 1 now, she would say 11.

Amber is that messed up in the brain right now.

Her mental self screams, it's hyperventilating. Her mental house is not only on fire. There's a tornado approaching, a tsunami is three seconds away and there's also a Richter magnitude scale 10 earthquake.

Amber's going to cry.

She inhaled deeply thinking of the thousands of calming videos she's seen online. The ASMR of someone eating chicken, the voice of a youtuber trying to hypnotise you and convince you that your past self was a caveman...The sound of a BTS member talking.

Amber froze.

NO. NO. NO!

Keep calm act normal, don't f*ck this up.

She repeated in her head like a silent mantra as she's suddenly so aware of the millions of eyes on her, the actual fans here, the live broadcast. Her eyes trialled to the hundreds and thousands of people surrounding her, the cameras that rolled around the edges of the stage. Everyone is looking.

Everyone.

Oh God, help her.

Who was she? Who was she? Her eyes spin frantically as she tries her best to stride across the stage, giving what she hopes were smiles to screaming fans. It works because a weak smile sends them roaring. She's walking quickly to the nearest person on stage.

When her eyes meet Yoongi's, she stops and for a second, a very small second, she stares.

He's beautiful, hair pushed back via a red bandana, rings clipped to the edges of pale earlobes. She's shocked. The first thing her mind registers is his skin. His skin is really that shade of steamed fish even in real life. Hell, he's so pale everything stands out on him.

The glitter of his eyeshadow, the highlight on his cheek, the tinted mint of his hair. The bandana keeps his hair soft and fluffy, free from the sweat that she knows results in strands of this body's own hair sticking to her face.

"What is it?" He drawled, lips curling as they moved. The deep sound is beautiful, low and deep with that scratchy growl that sends her heart flying in her chest. If she lets it, she swears her beating organ would head straight for him and proceed to press itself to his own beating chest.

Anyway, the point is. Her heart beats loud and clear in her ears as she stares at the incubus before her.

He smirked at her with a brow raised, back hunched into a relaxed position. Just by standing there, he exudes that very same charismatic sexuality she sees in 2D and Amber would have died from being under the direct gaze of this handsome homosapien descendant if not for the current already nerve-wracking situation.

He really is one handsome steamed fish meat.

 _"Who...am I?"_  The voice that escapes her throat is different. Very different, it rumbles out of her chest, deeper than she's used to and for a second Amber is reminded of an RPG game where you play as a different character and scream as a different character. She used to laugh all the time at the voice acting, especially when the character dies.

It's just hilarious when you walk off the mountain and the strangled scream of the male voice actor is a squeaky wail that always sends her laughing her ass off.

Only it's not funny anymore and now she really does not want to send this body walking off a mountain, or the stage for that matter. She's very sure the fans would eat her alive. Hell, any sasaengs in the vicinity would rape this poor boy.

The Amber inside her mind that is a little high, laughs and offers a suggestion of moaning right now to see what she would sound like. Just for fun and fan service. Rational Amber slaps her.

The confusion that flickers across the shorter man's face is evident and his darkened brows furrow, red lips pressed together.

 _"What are you saying?"_  He frowned, alarm racing across his features.

 _"Help,"_ Amber cleared her throat. _"Please. I can't sing-I-I can't. Are there more lines?"_

 _"What?"_  Yoongi inhales sharply.  _"Jungkook. What?"_  His voice peaked as he stared at her incredulously.

Jungkook. Amber inhaled sharply and her mind suddenly goes back to normal working into overdrive. Jungkook. Jungkook was her soulmate. She swallowed glancing down at the outfit, the very same leather pants that she was just squealing over seconds ago greeted her eyes. She tries not to think about that bulge between her legs or the feeling of it sticking to her thighs and her mind moves quickly.

There's not much time to think anyway.

Jungkook.

Her mind flickers linking to the boy with the sexy smirks. The boy with the wide doe-like eyes. The boy who's so well-loved by thousands of fans worldwide. The boy with the prettiest of smiles and the cutest of laughing crinkles at the corners of his eyes.

The boy who Da-hee had said was convinced that he would remain alone forever.

Jungkook.

Her heart? His heart? It raced under her flesh, fast and strong as a feeling of warmth envelops her at the thought. Then, it's replaced by a stark burst of cold dread and the current situation. It's biting and painful, cloying in her stomach as she exhales a ragged breath.

This was clearly body exchange.

Jungkook. Jeon Jungkook, maknae of BTS, half Korean, half Chinese prodigy who was scouted by thousands of Korean Entertainment Agencies and Chinese Entertainment Agencies. That boy. She was in his body. Wait a second-

Her eyes widened and she almost choked on her saliva again. (yeah, it's now her number one hobby)

He was in her body.

Her flabby body which hates working out.

The very same body that's extremely female with boobs. The left one is bigger than the right one, or is it the other way around? Anyway...

A dude was in her body.

A very handsome, very famous dude who was supposed to keep singing.

Oh my God.

Her mind seems to snap awake, somehow gaining some semblance of rational and logical decision making.

Amber glanced back towards that direction and she could almost feel the blood drain from her face as she listens to the song in the background. There's plenty of lines left, lines that Jungkook sings. How long does it last? How does one exchange back? Does she walk to her body and say 'Hi! I need my body back'? What does she do? Sleep? Think really hard?

Pray to the Gods? Wish for her safety? Hope for the best? Hit herself on the head until her soul flies out of her body and conveniently back into her real body?

Wank?

Mmmm sounds good. Okay, no.

HELP.

H.E.L.P.

God, she can't screw this up for Jungkook. He worked so hard for this. If he stopped and did not sing. This would hit the newspapers because it'll be so f*cking obvious that she's not him.

The music thrums behind her and somehow her mind flashes back to little Amber (not so little actually) singing the same song at a Karaoke. Her mind swarms, thoughts linking to that sasaeng that would have ruined her day if not for Da-Hee. Da-hee...Jungkook's mom. She hopes she's helping her son in her body.

Oh shit. Amber wants to laugh because Da-hee had been spot on for her guessing. Da-hee would be her mother-in-law if Jungkook would have her. That would be kind of nice actually. The woman had been nothing but kind and lovely to her.

This was not going as planned.

Now, with the obvious staring at her face. Amber knows that she had kind of expected some lowkey guy with a cute smile, maybe an art student too. Not this...HIGH key guy who has a nice smile too and was also part of the arts industry, performing arts to be exact, but that's not the point.

It's now or never. The beat speeds up signifying the chorus and she vaguely registers Yoongi is stepping up to her. Part of Amber's frazzled mind notes that the guy is glowing slightly, his skin shimmers under the spotlight and it makes his skin glow like an SK-II model.

If she gets a chance, Amber is going to steam some fish, put it under the god damn spotlight and then plonk Yoongi onto a seat right next to it.

Then she's going to take a picture, use the eyedropper tool and compare the shades of white.

Yeah, that is if she doesn't die.

She raises the mic to her lips, praying to God her voice doesn't crack from the nerves.

_"You-"_

**_"Who cares, we only live once, there's no use worrying so much~"_ **

 


	15. Seven Colours of the Rainbow

The minute she stops, she wrenches the mike from her face and gives out a bark of hysterical laughter.

She did it. She did it. She sounded a little shaky but it was ok, acceptable. Not a disastrous off-tuned screech. It's thankfully, one of the lines with a lowered note and singing it's tune is as simple as singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Somehow, Jungkook's body knew exactly what to do with his diagram. The muscle memory paired with his warmed vocal cords made it easy to belt out that tune and she's surprised by the clarity and strength of his voice. The next member takes over and she exhales in relief. Thank God, now...She pales, swallowing thickly.

How much longer must she do this?

 _"Are you his soulmate?"_ Yoongi asked, his face twisted into one of extreme concern. He had stepped up to her, so close that his face is mere centimetres apart from hers. It's as if he were trying to figure out if she's lying and playing tricks on him. His eyes are searching her face, trying to read her expressions.

       

The sudden closeness makes that glow of his skin even more apparent and Amber's dazzled.

She's dazzled by his features.

Everything's more ugly in reality, that's the truth.

She's seeing the hints of pimples that the BB cream on his face was barely able to conceal. She's seeing tiny scars on his chin, the wrinkled dent of laughing lines that the makeup had sunk into. Beyond all that, she's seeing his eyes, his very beautiful, very raw eyes.

Amber doesn't know how to put into words what she is seeing. When you look into people's eyes at such a close distance, there's simply just a contrast between the sharpness of their surrounding features and the sudden softness of the eyes. It's the comparison of harsh lines of the face, emphasized by the light versus the airbrushed melt of wet, shimmery eyes.

His eyes were covered with a plastic cap that had a dark green rim that's mixed with streaks of dark gold and bits of silver, clearly no cheaply manufactured product. Despite that, she could see his pupils moving to focus as it travels across her features.

There's something really beautiful about looking at someone's face up close.

The imperfections are all there, it's amplified and it's obvious. Nevertheless, there's something just so beautiful about looking at the way someone's eyes dilate as you look at them. The way lashes part across eyelids. The way lips glistened under the light, a mix of his own natural pink and the stain of makeup red. The way his nose curved over skin.

Not only that.

He's glowing. Amber realizes. It's not the shine of oily skin or the shimmer of wet sweat over flesh. It's a faint light that glows from within his skin, as if someone had used a vignette filter, adjusted the brightness and contrast and then placed it over his skin.

Whatever skincare product he uses. It's hella magical and probably hella expensive.

She licked her lips, swallowing. Oh man. Oh MAN. She just licked a man's lips. The lips that every fan wants to lick. Okay, she needs to stop.

"Yea..." She says.  _"Please help me. Spontaneous singing is really. Really not my thing. I doubt I can go for round two."_ The minute the words start, her panicked anxieties spur her to continue and she's blabbering out whatever her mind supplies. " _I'm literally trembling. I'm so close to peeing his pants now like. What if you really need the toilet. Do you just walk off the stage and say_ **adios amigos, je dois faire pipi. 不要太想念我啦! 頑張ってください!**  (bye friends, I need to go pee-pee. Don't miss me too much! Good luck) All the best?"

Her answer must have done it, maybe the way she had said it was something Jungkook would never do. Maybe there really is something different about her features. Amber's not sure. She didn't do that much research on body exchange to actually know much about it.

Then again, Jungkook probably doesn't know much English, Spanish, French and Japanese.

Amber's talent is the result of a multilingual parent, who likes to curse at you creatively in different languages to spite you.

Yoongi looked absolutely stunned. His mouth hung open cutely, the classic mouth drop moment as he stared at her, revealing cute small teeth and a pinked tongue. He snapped it shut and swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing. Amber squints a little.

Was that glow increasing? Maybe...It's not his skincare? Could the tech team deem down that light on him, please? At this rate, she might need sunglasses.

"F*ck."He breathes, beautiful voice vibrating with little crackles. He takes the words from her lips, her mind, her soul, her very being. Using the one English word almost all rappers knew and somehow makes it really, really sexy.

It's not a disgusting spit of the syllabus. He's cut off the air he provides to his vocal cords to only give the barest minimum to produce sound. It results in an even deeper growled exhale that's more like a moan than a word itself.

"F*ck yeah," Amber echoes back in that sweet mocha voice of one Jeon Jungkook.  _"Starting this with a bang huh?"_  She gave him a shaky nervous chuckle. She watched as his eyes flickered, practically seeing the cogs in his mind turn and snap into place.

 _"I'll help you sing the chorus. God, Damn it."_  Yoongi cursed voice dipping into a low sexy growl. It sends a tremor through her body and she swears the thing in her pants trembles.

IT MOVED.

Amber froze, her body clamping up at the weird feeling. Previously, it was kind of less noticeable. She eventually got used to it. It's like the feeling of your asscheeks in jeans. You won't be thinking about your ass cheeks all day.

Until someone touches it.

OH SHIT. PLEASE GOD NO.

NOBODY.

TOUCH.

THE THING.

 _"Quick act as if you gave me the lines."_ He motioned to her, Amber snaps out of her thoughts and scrambles as she pushed her own mic to his face, grateful for the distraction. He gives her a fake laugh, just for the cameras and belts out the next tune.

**_I don't care if it's written in the stars that I'm meant to follow that stream~_ **

The deep growl of his voice with its scratchy tinge somehow makes the song sound ten times more erotic. He's still doing the whole lack of oxygen in his voice thing which makes every sound more sexual than it should be. Amber suspects that he's still in his rapping mode. The one that consists of raspy growls and harsh snarls that are mixed with moaned words. The fans roared in approval, going crazy with happiness at the sudden crossover of generations and his erotic rendition. Amber's startled, her eyes going round at the sound.

**_I've spent years on this path, beaten down by thousands, blood running into my eyes~_ **

Yoongi is a rapper, through and through. Usually, rappers don't just stick to rapping 24/7 in Korean music. There are parts of their verses where they begin to hum, rapping switching into a soft tune to blend in with the song, but not Yoongi.

**_My constellations are just fragments of a mirror that reflects a single imagery of the rising sun~_ **

He's the one member with the least vocal lines in their six years of history. He's admitted on camera that he just thinks his voice doesn't sound good singing so he's generally against being given singing roles. To hear him sing right now, in front of her with that raspy lilt to his voice is-

Crazy.

His eyes shifted towards her slowly as he sings, a small comforting smile on his lips and Amber gulps, swallowing loudly at the sight.

Oh Shit.

_**I'll steer my ship ashore, stop and run towards the night of a million skyscrapers and the flashing signs of life~** _

He finishes it flawlessly and exhales, running fingers through his hair.

 _"Damn, I've never sung that live."_  The guy chuckles looking impressed with himself. He smirked at her, cocking his hip to the side to rest his weight on one foot lazily.  _"The guys probably know there's something up by now,"_ he shrugged, toying with the microphone in his palm. _"There's no way us rap-line would just start singing vocals for fun, especially me of all people"_

It's as he says, because from the corner of her eye she spots the nearest member is heading towards their direction. Jimin is moving across the stage quickly, covering distance as he jogs lightly to their direction while waving and smiling to his fans The boy stops before them with wide concerned eyes, plump juicy lips pressed together in concern.

He's nibbling on those firm mounds of red-tinged skin, droopy almond eyes lined with a smoky smear of russet and gold. He's shorter than Jungkook and so he's looking up at her with huge pretty eyes.

Oh my God. Amber inhaled sharply. His contacts are so light they're almost gold, paired with a long chained earring with a red ruby droplet at the end on his left ear and gold hoops on his right. Jimin is distractingly pretty couple with the whisky blonde hair that shimmers with specks of glitter.

 _"Are you okay, Jungkook?"_  He breathes in that soft, high pretty mellifluous voice and Amber almost dies from his beauty, decked out in a glittery sweater that sparkles in all seven colours of the rainbow with each movement. The light reflecting off his beautiful face in little glitters of iridescent colours and sometimes, they reflect into his eyes to reveal dilating pupils.  _"Does your throat hurt?"_  He breathes, and somehow that comes out as a sweet little moan of words.

ANCCJEIFJJWVIJERIGJJGVWRrgugn. His voice was 100% her thing and the thing in her pants agrees. It takes all her willpower to not look down and just shift her package to check if it's okay or not, because Amber is not okay and she's not experienced enough to know if it's okay.

 _"Hey, Jimin. Can you cover for him?"_ Yoongi replied, his voice low and serious as he grips onto Jimin's arm.

 _"Hyung-What?"_  Jimin glanced up at him in alarm.

_"This is Jungkook's soulmate."_

"Oh." The boy hums, fluffy hair bouncing a little. Then, he frowns. Amber could almost see the metaphorical cogs turning and a light bulb goes off in his mind. The pretty boy's eyes widened as he stared at her, doing a cute little double take. "Ohhh!" Amber watched as the guy pressed a hand to his lips, eyes curving into happy pretty little moons of happiness as he tries to conceal giggles behind his palms.

Oh my god, he is cuter in real life. WTF. She's also pretty sure dude is fangirling right now because he's shooting her the same look MiRi had been doing hours ago. The whole naughty eye glint thing and the overly perverted giggles.

 _"Oi! Can you stop being so obvious!"_  Yoongi hissed, although there's a smirk on his lips that can't stop appearing everytime he looks at her, probably affected by Jimin's happiness.

Seriously, they were actually really happy for Jungkook.

It's kind of really nice to see the wholesome friendship they have.

 _"We can just pretend we're getting chummy."_  Jimin giggles, the natural cuteness oozing out of him in waves that smashes into Amber like an F1 Race Car versus a sheep. He steps closer to her giggling as he loops an arm across her waist, hands resting at his hips. He's warm and Amber can't help but stiffen at his touch. Suddenly very aware of his hands pressed to her hips.  _"The fans like that, Jikook is a thing after all."_ He soothed, giving her an open invitation to wrap her own arms around him with a bright smile.

The screams of fans were growing louder and louder.

Alright, fine. Amber angles Jungkook's body to accept the half hug. She aims to rest her hand gently at his hips but misses to brush fingers against his wrist for a mere millisecond. It's the same. That very same jolt of electricity running through her at his touch and she shudders, eyes growing wide.

Jimin seemed to have felt absolutely nothing because his features don't change at all. She swears that his body had clamped a little and his lips had trembled slightly, but Amber's not sure. Jimin continued to talk to Yoongi about how they should go about this as if they were talking about cakes. All she could do was stare at him with wide eyes as she tried her best to hide the tremble of her skin from his touch.

Her soul was burning at the touch of his skin.

Please. Please don't react male signalling pole of disaster.

_"Are you okay? Jungkook's soulmate?"_

Jimin had turned his large eyes on her and he's smiling cutely. Amber turned to meet his gaze.

That was when her heart practically stops for a full second and her mouth trembled as it took all her willpower to not open in absolute bewilderment and awe.

An otherworldly being stood before her.

Flowers.

It was like a filter, a snapchat filter, only a hundred percent more realistic and thousand times more beautiful. They blossomed in his hair like a huge flower crown, spilling from the sides of his head to dangle in a pretty arrangement. It's not an ugly lump of cheap plastic crap. It's aesthetically placed with a spread out weightage, each blossom and individual petal a pretty pastel. It's almost as if a renowned flower arranger had just done his hair, alongside with a jeweller, a hair stylist and a plant scientist had bred these flowers just for the occasion.

They were beautiful. Just one look at them and Amber knows that these were not the normal variety. There were thousands of tiny little four-petalled bundles of soft purples with pinked and white tinges. Lilacs. To balance out with the tiny pink, purple and white flowers are airy blue roses. They appeared slightly translucent with a shimmery gossamer-like quality reminiscent of fairy wings. These were all supplemented by tiny sprigs of baby breaths and sprigs of green.

On a closer look, there were even tiny little beads of dew on each petal that reflected the light at such an intensity Amber is almost blinded. The killing blow would be the fireflies. Amber wouldn't really call them fireflies. The little blips of light are not insects. It was just little specks of golden orbs that danced in the midst of these steadily blossoming flowers, flickering and illuminating his beautiful face.

He looked like a fairy prince that had emerged from the woods to greet his willing victim. For dramatic effect, petals that had dislodged from their crowns drifted down and disappeared into nothingness on reaching the floor.

He was a walking artwork.

Literally.

She watched as he self-consciously ran his fingers through blonde locks and the flowers that he touched, melted into nothingness before reblooming again like virtual objects in a game that respawned endlessly.

This was...She swallowed as her mind starts to draw links.

**Flower Crown of the Soul**

But-BUT-BUT, IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE? Amber's mind spirals through her database of soulmate knowledge. Flower Crown of the Soul bloomed when they touched their soulmates. It was usually visible to all and physical to the touch. You could even pluck the things and it would last as long as your soulmate wanted you.

She's been to the homes of her mother's best friend to see huge vases of the most beautiful sunflowers she's ever seen in her life. Her Mom has one in their home, her best friend had gifted a stalk to her. It was a great honour to be given one.

It represented trust and love.

How does he not see it? Is it because she's in Jungkook's body? It should be visible to everyone. Not just her. Her head hurts. Her heart hurts.

Was he not...hers?

Wait, a second, didn't she already have a soulmate?

 _"The person is in shock. Stop touching him, Park Jimin!"_ Yoongi chides.  _"This is not Jungkook!"_

 _"Ah, sorry."_  Jimin slips out of her grasp and Amber watches as the flowers continued to shimmer, trails of petals floating steadily and melting onto the ground.

Was this a false alarm? Just her soul going crazy? Maybe Jungkook was just too close to these people and so his body started to go funky? Maybe she's turning crazy?

 _"Hey, it's fine. We'll protect you okay?"_  Amber's eyes snapped up to meet that of a glowing star's.

Yoongi glows. He just glows. With the three of them in the area, it seemed that the tech team had decided to use a different kind of spotlight over their heads, something that isn't as bright and as dazzling as the ones they used before.

This was a soft wash of white that allows her to see the steady glow emitting from his skin. He sparkles, skin shimmering with tiny rays of soft pale light. It's not the eye blinding sparkle of diamonds, nor was it the flash of a torch that assaulted your retinas.

It's the soft glow of fireflies in the dark, the flicker of a candle's edge, the shimmer of the star in the night sky. It's the reflection of the moon on a lake, a glimmer of light on the waves, the pool of gold when the sun meets the horizon at dawn.

It's everything that lights up that she loves.

**Soul Beam**

He smiles, revealing glimmering teeth and Amber is dazzled.

Dazzled.

Like the glow of the rising sun, she could just sit there and watch him for days.

Oh No.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.

He clearly doesn't see it on her. Soulbeam is only visible to the two recipients, if she's seeing it he should see it, but just like Jimin's soul bond he doesn't see it.

Amber pales and someone taps her on her shoulder. She turns her eyes meeting that of Hoseok's.

Hoseok.

Oh GOD.

_"Jungkook, you okay?"_

Her mind goes. Everything dulls down into a soft thrum as she stared at the sunny boy before her. His eyebrows are furrowed and his lips are pressed into a pout, but she's not interested in that. More specifically, she's looking at the beaming sign that floated above his head. There's a cute little neon arrow pointing at him. It bounces over his head repeatedly. Just like the signboards in Tokyo, it dazzles you and makes you half blind at the sheer brightness of the sign. The colour bleeds outwards, illuminating his soft hair a neon pink and blue like the lighting of a music video.

Her breath hitches as squiggly lines in the font of her own messy handwriting streaks over his head like neon lights in a club. She almost wants to die when the words flashed messages that only she would see and understand.

**Property of Amb Keep Out! NO TOUCHING!**

Amber inhaled sharply. In Korean, the word amb sounds almost like an eating sound and it looks kind of cute, just bouncing over his head. Oh God No. The words moved again, flickering as it changes.

_**Sunshine, Nipple-Virginity-Stealing Cutie is up for grabs, while stocks last!!! One time only BIG SALES!** _

The meme of the guy screaming the word NO plays in her head on repeat like a broken record.

Oh please no. NO!

_**Profess your Undying Love, before he leaves, stupid girl!!! : <** _

Wait what?

_**Dumb bitch. Just kiss the lights out of him, who cares if it's MaleXMale. Fan service is amazing. GROPE THAT ASS NOW!** _

Were soul marks supposed to be so demanding?

**Soul Signage**

Only soulmates could see the signboards and like neon signboards, it was famous for providing soulmates the ability to spot each other from kilometres away and the words reflected her heart's innermost thoughts.

Amber is such a perv.

 _"Jungkook?_ " Someone grabs her hands and it's that same jolt of electricity.

She whips over to look and the familiar face of Kim Taehyung stared back at her in confusion.

She could gush all day about his looks but not now, especially when vines were weaving between their intertwined hands. Like the flowers in Jungkook's hair, they were more virtual in nature, but Amber swears that as the shimmery gold translucent vines twined over her skin, she's drawn to hold his hand even tighter.

The minute their souls deemed them to be connected enough, tiny rosebuds formed before her eyes. They bloomed between their entwined hands specifically on their ring fingers, as red and as vibrant as the lipstick dabbed on the inner portion of Taehyung's lips.

Her breath hitches as her eyes grow round, head already swarming.

**Rose Rings of Fate**

As the name suggests, they remained as tattooed rings on their pinky when the soulmate is not around and blooms when they touch. It's not physical and largely virtual in nature, but it's normally visible to all, even cameras. Like all flower soulmarks, it was flashy in nature.

In addition to that, they would have a red string that was only visible to them that connected their rings together. The thing trials between their legs a molten red, with streaks of pulsating gold.

Amber swears her heart-no Jungkook's heart-had accelerated to unknown levels. She's unable to move, unable to think because this rollercoaster was steadily heading to uncharted territories.

Her seatbelt is not just gone. Her entire seat is gone, the rollercoaster is gone, the track is gone even the Earth is FREAKING GONE. Her body is flying to outer space while spinning cartwheels. It's that bad.

This was so bad.

Amber wants to laugh. She wants to cry. She wants to scream. She wants to die. How did Lady Fate decide that she was worthy for this? Why her?

Why?

Then she's being lifted, someone hoists her body up from its shell shocked state and just dashes away in quick jogs carrying her like a sack of potatoes on his shoulders. From the corner of her eye, she sees Taehyung fibbing a shrug and putting his lips to her microphone that he had stolen to sing her lines.

The fans are laughing. They think it's a ploy, that the members were bullying her, bullying Jungkook.

The guy, whoever he is, dashes into the safety of the darkness of the backstage. There's a whirlwind of movement, staff talking rapidly in Korean. There are dancers walking at the back, security mumbling into walkie talkies. Everything is so so so loud.

Whoever was holding onto her like a sack of potatoes slowly placed her into a plastic seat. The movement causes her skin to brush against his, and her eyes widened as she catches a glimpse of the crumpled lift of his shirt and his skin-

His SKIN.

Intricate golden lines pulsed across his contracted abdomen in a beautiful pattern that spreads from his heart. Her touch results in a sudden burst of gold that just flickers across his skin before disappearing quickly. Her eyes registered the fading of golden light underneath his white shirt. The distinct heart-shaped shimmer of gold pulsates once more. Amber only catches a glimpse but it's enough for her to know exactly what it was.

**Midas Touch**

Like the tale, the touch of the soulmate would unlock the tattoo like golden patterns over their hearts which would spread the longer the touch.

Seokjin's beautiful face greeted hers, half concealed by the darkness and half-illuminated by stage lights. Perfect eyes watching her carefully as kissable lips stretched into a kind smile.

" _Hey, you're safe now. Don't panic, okay?"_

Then someone gently pats her shoulder and Amber's eyes drifted upwards to the leader of the team.

Namjoon.

He's definitely really handsome. Thick brows, a tall bridged nose that buttons out a little and lips.

Really thick lips. This was not the rounded shape of Jimin or the defined bows of Hoseok and Seokjin. His lips were thick throughout, there's just a quick dip at the ends. The edges of his bottom lip curving a little such that his lips looked almost like stretched out heart shapes.

Then he smiles and Amber swears everything feels alright. It's as if she's got nothing to worry anymore and all is well in the world. His dimples sink into cheeks as his lips stretched into a bright million dollar smile, revealing pearly teeth. It takes up his whole face, consuming him whole and then-

His eyes.

His eyes were fox-like, a little more cheeky looking than the average and he stared down at her with a burning focused intensity. In the darkness, she should not be seeing those colours that glimmered from within. She could see shades of purple, shades of gold, colours she's never seen before.

Then she's noticing the multicoloured footprints behind him on the floor, she's noticing the imprint of luminescent colours on her shoulders which takes the shape of his hands. It's like a colourful heat detector machine she notes as the imprints fade.

**Soul Slime**

A disgusting name of a soul bond, but like a snail's slime. The soulmate would leave colourful imprints on everything he/she touches.

Oh God. Her mind swarms as she counts.

Seven.

Seven.

Seven.

 _"You alright? We'll figure this out together. Don't worry."_  Namjoon grins.

Don't worry.

Don't worry.

Don't worry.

We will figure this out.

TOGETHER.

Her head swarms and then everything goes black.

Oh shit, here we go again.

 


	16. Violation

When she awakens, it's to MiRi's cries of shock and Da-Hee's hands pressed to her shoulders supporting her weight. MiRi is screaming in her ear, hands patting-no-slapping her cheeks repeatedly. There's a white noise ringing in her ear, and she could hear her steady inhales and exhales of breath.

It takes a second for her to register the sudden change in environment and when she does, her hands reflexively pressed against her chest. The feeling of her heart thrums under her skin and it's somewhat soothing. The steady beat providing her with a solace she didn't know she needed.

MiRi continues to slap at her cheeks like a seal slapping its god damn belly.

Was this what the girl has been doing to Jungkook this entire time?

" _HI! HI! YOU OKAY? DUDE? BRO?"_ MiRi screamed into her eardrums making her wince at the loud almost painful pitch. Her best friend's falsetto stabs into her eardrums like a spoiled radio blaring out random sharp, edgy tunes or maybe like her alarm clock at 6 am screaming ' _Unravel' by TK from Tokyo Ghoul_.

Being back in her own body is a familiarity that snaps her out of the initial daze she had been experiencing in Jungkook's body. It's a sense of control and safety and she's never been so thankful to feel the lumps of flesh in her chest area and the lack of that stick in between her legs. Damn, she never thought she would miss her penisless crotch.

Seriously, the thing had a freaking mind of its own.

She's snapped out of her thoughts by a different kind of scream emitting from the surrounding fans beside them. It completely overpowers MiRi's already thunderous voice and Amber's seeing the girls beside her pointing towards the stage. There are girls raising their phones to take pictures, girls sobbing tears and yelling their outraged confusion. The stadium echoes with confused shrieks and cries, but there are also some cheers and claps from fans.

It's a sudden burst of mass panic that mirrors the one thrumming in her own heart.

She dislodged herself from Da-Hee's grip and like a mechanized robot she numbly moves forward. Her own already taller than average body gives her the advantage as she deftly pushes through fans to take her previous position at the railing.

It's easy to spot the fairy prince.

The flower crown remains as beautiful as always, decorating Jimin's hair and emphasizing on his already beautiful features. While the petals still melt into the ground when they fall, they now linger on the edges of his shoulders only disappearing when they touch the ground. The guy himself was looking confused, turning to see what the fans were screaming about. His eyes were wide open as he glanced up at his friends only to be met with the sight of their equally shocked faces.

Amber watched as Taehyung points to his own head, in rapid fire gestures, his lips moving quickly.

Jimin freezes, eyes widening as he brought his hands upwards slowly. Unlike her previous interaction with him, the brush of Jimin's hand over his hair does not cause the bundled petals to disappear from view. Instead, his fingers rest on the beautiful petals, gently touching each petal. Amber watched as he gingerly plucked a stalk from the flower crown weaved into his hair, bringing it up close to his face. The second his eyes lock onto the beautiful flower, his expression transforms into one of utter confusion and-

Amber inhaled sharply. Oh God.

Those dollops of cream that he has for lips. They trembled and moved as he strokes the beautiful petals. Like a starving man staring at a plate of roast chicken, his eyes were glued to the flower in his hand, watching the little orbs of gold flutter and spin. It was a face of intrigue, of confusion and of shock.

Then his lips twitched and curved upwards, eyes disappearing into happy little moons.

His smile was so raw and so so full of emotions. It's a pure undaunted joy that blooms across his features, spreading from soft cushiony lips to pretty moon eyes and spreads across his entire body. It's a happiness that's more than the expression a kid has on his face when he's told that he's allowed to consume the entire bar of chocolate. It's happiness more than the one expressed by a student with straight As on their report cards. It's more than the happiness from a newbie receiving his first paycheck.

Hell, Amber's only seen this type of happiness once or twice in her life. It's the same look on the face of her cousin when he sees his wife walking down the aisle, it's the same look on the face of her uncle-in-law when he meets his baby daughter for the first time.

It's warm and fuzzy, like melting ice cream, like drizzles of caramel syrup on whip cream, like the soft rays of the morning sun on the snow.

Oh God.

Then his face scrunches up, brows twitching and she watched enraptured as he brought the back of his hand to cover his lips as he trembles. Even from here, she could see the shake of his shoulders as he takes huge inhales and exhales of breath from parted lips. His face portrays his struggles to prevent tears from spilling from pretty eyes.

Eyes that were shimmery with a layer of tears that collected at the edges of his beautiful eyes. He was clearly trying his best to keep emotions from spilling, but like a bubbling pot of porridge kept too long at the stove. The lid cackles and flips as bubbles of liquid spill from the metal pot.

Yet, Jimin continued to stare down at the flower. There was so much adoration and warmth in his eyes, so much tenderness and love. Amber's heart is yet again sent beating faster than a hummingbird's wings (or so she thinks).

Then, he's bringing the lilacs to his lips. He inhales gently, eyes shifting close. The glittery sequins on his jacket sparkle under the spotlight and the colours spill over his skin, illuminating the single tear that drips from the corner of his eye and spills down his cheeks like a droplet of liquid rainbow.

Beautiful. Soooooooo beautiful.

She froze, feeling a peculiar sensation in her own hair. Something weaves through her own locks and the scent of flowers permeates through the air. It's a soft pretty floral fragrance of lilacs that has a tinge of musk which reminds her of roasted tea leaves. There's an overlying sweetness which reminds her a little of the scent of a baby's milky skin and something more. Her fingers scramble to her head, fingers sifting through her hair to stop at the feeling of smooth petals under her fingertips.

The crown on her head really doesn't feel like anything. Unlike normal flower crowns, there's no weight whatsoever. She's only feeling it because when the flowers blossom they part and move her short locks of hair.

It doesn't even take her another second to picture her impending death. Her eyes darted around anxiously to look at the surrounding crying, angry, confused women who were still too busy filming Jimin and lamenting on their losses.

It was clear that they all believed that he had just found his soulmate.

It was also clear that she was a few seconds to having her own flower crown which would look just like Jimin's, which would basically be her death sentence.

Her mind flashed back to the crazy sasaeng who had dug her fingers into her skin. Just a quick glance at said fingernail prints sends a jolt of fear through her racing heart.

Oh F*ck.

She swooped down into a squat, disappearing from view. With grabby fingers, she's reaching for her tote bag that's haphazardly discarded on the floor between her legs. With trembling fingers, she's pulling out her  _Gryffindor_ scarf and pulling it over her head to conceal her hair. She holds it in place with her left hand and she hooks the tote bag over her shoulder after checking to see if her purse and phone were still present within the fabric bag.

Crouched down like this covered in the shadows of fans, it's easy to spot the red glowing trial of fire attached to her pinky. It's like a beacon, a pathway of lava that turns and twists between legs, heading straight to the stage.

As she stands, it's easy for her eyes to follow the string that heads towards one Kim Taehyung who was looking particularly fierce as he stalks behind Jimin. His expression had clamped down as if he were struggling to contain emotions, jaws set as he brushed his right thumb over the fingers on his left hand.

Fans would say he looked as if he had injured his fingers, rubbing out a bruise on his fingers. They would say that maybe he was jealous of Jimin or maybe he was concerned for his best friend's dropping popularity. But Amber knows that he's playing with the red string. She knows that he's wringing his fingers to hide the real reason behind his current obsession with his pinky

He was clearly looking at the rose print on his pinky, staring at it carefully as he played with his fingers. His facial muscles were twitching as he stared at his hands, jaws clenching and unclenching as he swallows thickly. Then his eyes snapped up and he turned to stare heatedly at her direction.

It's a quick sudden movement that causes Amber's heart to leap into her mouth. She knows he can't see her, knows that he's only looking her way because of the red string. Still, a weird excited form of fear thrums in her chest. It almost flies out of her mouth as he takes a step in her direction. Then he breaks into a quick jog, heading straight towards her with smouldering eyes.

The sudden slam of fear that wrecks through her body is enough for her to whip around and start to make her way out of here. Oh God. Amber pinched herself, kneading flesh with her index fingers. The pain that radiates from her skin is a welcoming shock that elicits a gasp from her lips.

It was not a dream.

Oh My.

She couldn't take it. Standing here she felt so f*cking vulnerable and alone in the sea of fans before her. Her emotions were a mess, her life was a mess. She was sweating profusely, heart pumping blood through her system so fast that she feels lightheaded.

Her stomach churns with something and her cheeks burn so hot they could just about set fire on anything they touched. She needed to think. She needed a time out. A moment to consider her next step and to just accept everything carefully one step at a time. She pushed through the crowd quickly.

Taehyung must have stepped closer because the fans surged forward, heading the opposite direction and conveniently concealing her from his view. A hand grips onto her forearm and Amber turns.

"I can't...I need to go." Amber mumbles to MiRi, who's looking confused as f*ck.

"What? Ambs? Is that you? What's wrong?"

The sound of her best friend's voice causes an odd surge of emotions to flow through her body and it brings forth desperate tears that form at the corners of her eyes.

"Ambs?" MiRi asked and Amber gripped onto her hand.

"I'll text you."

Da-hee stops her with a hand on her shoulder.

_"Dear, are you alright? We can talk this through, don't worry."_

Don't worry...Ambers lips twitched as she avoided the gaze of her future mother-in-law. So she really did buy those earrings for her mothers. HER MOTHERS.

 _"I'm sorry. I just need a moment to reset."_ She gave them an awkward bark of laughter.  _"T-toilet...yeah."_

Then she's tearing through the crowd, pushing past the girls who swarmed forward like a wave.

"AMBER! WAS HIS PENIS REALLY THAT SCARY? " MiRi screeched at her and Amber pushed harder breaking into a run. On a normal day, the words of her best friend would have sent her laughing hysterically, but not today.

She's darting through the gates, heading straight for the makeshift toilets. The ones outside the venue are empty and she pulls open the door, slamming it quickly to lock it in place.

She doubles over, clamping her fingers to her lips and screamed into her palm to muffle the sound. She was hyperventilating and panicking, because really. SERIOUSLY. This wasn't fun and games. This wasn't a f*cking One Direction fanfiction on Wattpad. **(a/n: lol ofc it is as if God could be that kind to you)**  This wasn't an otome game with a bunch of male leads. This was her life!

There were many things that Amber longs for, but each year on her birthday she usually wishes for only one thing when she blows out her candle:  **Please give me a simple life with no drama this year.** Well, clearly the birthday cake wishing was a fluke! A FAKE GIMMICK TO INCREASE THE SALES OF CAKES AND CANDLES ON BIRTHDAYS!

She turns to glance at the mirror and the familiar square of her face winked back at her, looking like a wreck in the white light of the toilet.

There's a flush to her features that she has never seen before. It's not the I-have-ran-ten-miles kind of redness to her cheeks, it's a sweet almost pink glow with dustings of red that spreads across her cheeks prettily and spreads to her ears. There's a small quirk to her lips that can't help but appear and if she would allow it Amber is sure she would be grinning from ear to ear.

She groans, melting into herself as she pressed her colder fingers onto heated cheeks.

Then with bated breath, she slips the scarf from her hair. The scarf is a pretty thing that's a deep rouge in colour with strips of yellow, but it's nothing compared to the arrangement on her head. The flowers are a little different, Jimin's flower crown is arguably more randomly placed. Her own flower crown had a distinct circle around her head, the bundles of lilacs weaving prettily through her locks of hair. She would have expected the petals to get squished by the scarf but there's no visible damage probably due to the magical nature of each flower.

It's pretty.

Even in the shitty lighting of the toilet, the flowers looked as if they were photographs taken under studio spotlight taken with an actual light diffuser and a professional camera. Somehow, they didn't seem out of place on her head. Instead, they framed her features the lavender and pink shades emphasizing on the pink of her cheeks.

It makes her look pretty too, bringing out the red of her lips and the golden orbs reflect upon her pupils bringing out the hazel in them. It's so pretty she just wants to paint them, preferably the ones on Jimin's head. Her expression twists into a weird constipated look.

Amber doesn't know if she's happy or not. It's one thing to dream about love with your idols. It's another thing to have it actually happen to you. Especially, if it's not just one. It's seven. Amber stifles a hysterical bark of laughter.

It's not that she's scared of loving them. Amber knows she will love them, it's why they were soulmates. She knows that even if she were to dislike their personalities when she meets them at first, she would grow to love them.

That logic was what scared her the most. Soulmarks could be like arranged marriages, a tie to their freedom a decision that they could never make by themselves. Amber was scared because the boys thrived on the lack of a partner. Many of their fans were girls who longed to be their soulmates and if the fans knew she was their soulmate, not just to one of them but to  _all_  of them.

They would kill her.

Literally.

And since the BTS members were all well past the usual speculated soul bond age, it could mean that they had moved on from the idea, probably finding love with a soulmate less woman. When life sucked, you move on. You don't sit like a duck and wait for magic to happen.

She could potentially destroy them. They could be disgusted by the fact that they had to share and was she even worthy enough to be loved by seven of Korea's most loved human beings? They had probably met thousands of the prettiest of girls, shook hands and talked to hundreds of the most gorgeous of women and they were stuck with...

A pudgy, Asian kid.

Damn it.

There were too many possibilities, too many unknowns and that was why Amber is scared. She would have been just happy if she had only received Taehyung's mark, but being in Jungkook's body made her realize exactly what was at stake.

Their dreams were at stake.

And Amber, being someone who was fighting for her dreams to be an artist, she didn't know what kind of person would she be if she were to steal their dreams from them. Still, it would be unfair to them if she didn't even give them a chance to see her and decide if they wanted her or not.

Amber's lips twitched at the thought of Jimin's smile and Da-Hee's story about Jungkook. Her mind flickers back to the thought of Taehyung, running across the stage in a mad attempt to see her. Her heart swells and she colours into a brighter red.

She thinks about sexy Yoongi, thinks about adorable Seokjin who had carried her (more like Jungkook) across the stage. She thinks about Namjoon, the guy had tried his best to reassure her and Hoseok...Her lips spread wider as she fumbles in her tote bag for the glasses.

She needs to return it and she will return it.

The future was unknown but as long as they would love her, then she will be a happy girl.

She drapes the scarf over her head once again, a smile on her lips. She steps out of the toilet, carefully pushing it close behind her. She turned, her eyes widening to see the familiar pompom earrings girl standing before her with a whole entourage of more richly dressed females.

Oh f*ck.

 _"Excuse me ladies...I'll just be heading this way,"_ Amber says as she cracked an awkward grin. God damn it, why the hell was she so bloody unlucky? Her eyes met those of the very same sasaeng who had tried to buy Hoseok's glasses from her. The sasaeng sniffed, lips spreading into a grin and her pom pom earrings bounced with her every move. Amber's smile falters as the girl's lackeys stepped up to block her escape route

Amber inhaled, clenching and unclenching her fist in an attempt to stay calm.

 _"As if we could let you go."_  One of the lackeys sniffed in disdain

God, damn it. Amber laughs. It's stupid barks of laughter that comes from deep within her diaphragm, The action releases the fear held within her chest and it gives her a jolt of courage. Her eyes were darting around madly as the girls closed in around her.

She spots an opening just as one of the lackeys stepped closer to Pom Pom to whisper something. It doesn't even take her a second to react. Amber's tearing past them, pushing them aside as she breaks into a sprint. She's speeding across the dark stadium, heading towards the entrance as fast as she can. Her legs were pumping beneath her and adrenaline buzzed across her skin as the world whips across her in a blurred streak.

She turned her head back to see the girls hot on her heels. They were shrieking as they ran, screaming profanities as they tried to reach her. The sounds of their heels clacking loudly across the pavement echoes across the venue along with their high pitched screams.

Amber laughed loudly as she raced forward. The sound that escapes her lips is a little raspy and she's breathless from the lack of oxygen. She has the advantage in speed, having worn a pair of jogging shoes to the concert and Amber knows she can make it to civilization safely if she keeps it up.

She swerves, turning the corner. Her shoes squeaked against the tiles as she moves. She could see the glow of the entrance of the stadium and in her mind, she could picture security guarding the gates. Just one yell, one scream from her and they would come running to save her.

Amber opened her mouth, ready to let lose the loudest God damn scream in her life.

Something hard clips her at the back of her head, and it's a sudden force that sends her careening forward into a kneel. Her knees scraped against the rough floor, tearing at flesh, causing blood to spill. The blow to her head is enough to send her body forward, her cheeks smashing into the pavement.

She must have blacked out because the next moment something slams into her face and she's forced awake. She blinks blearily to a swirling world, eyes struggling to adjust and to see. Her ears were ringing once again and her head throbs with pain. Each painful pulse radiates from the back of her head, spreading across her skin to burn at her temples.

She blinks rapidly, eyes finally able to decipher the dimmed lights of a single exit sign. Another blink and she can finally make out the silhouette before her. The pom pom sasaeng stood in front of her, eyes flashing with rage and lips curled into one of loathing and disgust. Under the glow of the green light from the exit sign, the group of them looked like devils after her soul. Their features were swathed in green and the colour illuminated their skin such that their eyes glinted, like obsidian black shards.

Let's just say it's hella scary and keep it at that.

 _"BITCH!"_ Pom pom girl screamed at her, lunging forward to attack. It's so quick that Amber doesn't even see it. Like the crack of a whip, Pom Pom's hands swept across her skin, forcefully slapping her cheek. Korean Drama Style.

The pain wakes her up, causing her neck to crack to the side from the force and Amber inhaled sharply, gasping at the burn of her cheek. It throbs, hot and warm from the physical attack. A sickening feeling thrums in the depths of her guts as she swallows thickly, running her tongue over the bite wound on the inner side of her gum. The taste of rust spills across her tongue, Amber having bitten her gum from the force of the slap.

Oh God.

 _"What the hell?"_  Amber gasped, staring up at Pom Pom outraged. She struggled to stand, attempting to wrench her hands forward only to be stopped by the burn of some kind of rope that clamped her wrists together behind her back. She mentally groaned. Holy shit they were so ready to go to jail.

 _"I'm Hoseok's friend and he wants it back, but if you really want the glasses that much, then take it,"_ Amber growled.  _"Oh my god. Why must you do this kind of shit and get yourself in jail?"_ Amber snapped at them, trying desperately to put up a front against these bullies, but the fear that wrecks through her body enters her voice causing it to become a shaky stammer.

 _"It was about the glasses, but not anymore. You f*cking foreigner!"_ Pom Pom shrieked and charged forward with loud angry stomps. The girl fisted her shirt and pulls Amber up to glare at her. The sound of ripping fabric echoes across the darkness, but Amber can scarcely tear her eyes away from the glint of Pom Pom's eyes.

It's the mad smile on her lips that sends her blood running cold.

 _"You'll never be good enough for our Jiminie. Never."_ She says. Oh No. Amber's eyes widened at her words, they knew. They knew. They knew about the flower crown-

And then the sasaeng is digging her fingers into her hair and ripping at something. Her fingers are quick, it snakes forward and snaps away, a blurred motion that Amber's eyes could barely catch in the darkness. She didn't see it coming, but she definitely felt it as loud and as clear as day.

Amber gasped her eyes bulging out at the feeling.

It hurts more than just a physical wound. It's not the same as the signals of pain that throb at the back of her head. It's not a signal from nerves to her brain. This was a deeper kind of pain, it burns from within her body spreading outwards like poison. It eats at her, a feeling of sickness that boils like acid in her heart.

Pom Pom grins, clearly happy at her expressions of pain. The girl raised her clenched fist revealing the bloodied flowers to her and Amber couldn't help the tears from spilling from her eyes at the sight. The pretty lilac petals were dripping with gold and red and the sight of them like this was just-

Heartbreaking.

 _"Crying?"_ Pom Pom cackles maniacally.  _"Bitch, you don't deserve to f*cking cry, you wh*re!"_ Pom pom snaps at her as she crushed the petals in her hand. She stomps on the pretty petals, ripping at the stalks furiously. Amber watched as she destroyed the flowers, her heart thumping loudly in her mind. Then there are hands everywhere, all the girls were before her, fingers ripping out the flowers from her head.

Amber's screaming. Screaming. Screaming. The sound escapes her lips, guttural and raw with pain and liquid streams down her skin, she doesn't know if it's blood or it's tears. The pain that tremors across her skin, spilling from her heart is never ending and unbearable. It's a crushing grief that envelops her body. Her heart trembles as if it were being stabbed over and over again. It feels as if a hot poker had been stuffed into her chest and twisted a thousand times.

She's drowning.

Drowning in some weird form of grief and loss that Amber doesn't understand. The loss of the flowers, unwillingly given, feels almost dirty and so so so painful.

She can distinctly hear the sound of laughter and Amber trembles, spasming under their touch as dry sobs escape her trembling lips. Somewhere deep within her mind, she can hear deep, low voices talking, each more beautiful than the next. The sounds were calming, reassuring and kind, filled with warmth and love. The peace is broken by a mellifluous scream that mirrors the one escaping her mouth.

It rings loud and clear in her mind and somehow, it wakes the slumbering survivor within her.

It must have been her reflexes from the pain because somehow she manages to pull her fingers out of the tapes that keep her hands together. The next second her fingers were moving and she socks Pom pom in her ugly face. The satisfying crunch of her nose under her fist is loud and it sends a jolt of pain through her knuckles. It doesn't hurt as much as the feeling in her heart, but it definitely felt good.

Amber's on her feet and then she's charging, forearms raised in a defensive block as she hurtles through the wall of sasaengs. Her head thrums from the sudden change of gravity and she's sprinting once again. Pain was just as illusionary sensation. She tells herself as she runs, dashing as fast as she could go. She doesn't dare to look back and when she finally slows into a jog she's at the carpark.

She's lucky enough to spot MiRi standing under the light of a lamp post with her bodyguard beside her. The girl is furiously typing into her phone, turning to look up towards the stadium every few seconds to search for her in the masses of people exiting the stadium.

The sight of her best friend is a relief that gives Amber the final push to run faster. Within seconds, her best friend turns at the sound of her pattering feet to meet her eyes and the shock and horror that flashes across her features almost elicits a bark of lifeless laughter from Amber's lips.

Almost.

"AMBER! WHAT THE F*CK?"

Amber is in her best friend's arms in a matter of seconds and she's suddenly so weak that her legs give way under her feet. MiRi has her hands around her holding her close and supporting her weight.

MiRi's fingers are trembling.

"Amber? Who did this to you? WHO?" MiRi is angry. She sounds angrier than the time when someone had spilt their coffee over her final project. Angrier than the time when she had heard that Deok-Su was bullied at a shitty company.

"Ambs, you're bleeding gold and red." MiRi is rambling, her voice is shaking with emotions as she holds her close. Amber smiles softly at her best friend, eyes fluttering as she struggles to keep them open. The adrenaline that once burned in her system, leaks out of her in one quick swish.

"Oh my God, Ambs." MiRi is panicking, her voice is growing higher and higher pitched as she shrieks in shock. "SHIT. WAIT, STAY AWAKE! HOLY SHIT AMBER!"

She can't help it. She really can't. Her body gives out from the pain and Amber faints once again, thankful for the darkness and the escape.

"AMBER!" 

 


	17. Forgive Me

When she comes to, it's to flashing white lights under her eyelids and voices that her mind barely registers.

**_"What are you saying?"_ **

**_"We need to give her soul bond suppressants. We have to Miss. The loss is too great."_ **

This voice is unfamiliar and Amber frowns.

Somewhere deep within her mind she can hear someone crying. It's soft, breathless dry sobs. The sound continues again and again, little pitiful wails from a mellow voice. The sound... It hurts her so much and it sends a dull burn deep within her chest like a trial of fire that coils around her heart.

Make it stop...

" ** _No. NO! What if I tried to get her soulmate?"_**

**_"We need him in 10 minutes to replace the blooms. Her soul is bleeding. The mark is too new and her body hasn't adapted yet. If what you're saying is true, then we need all of her soulmates to be here for the bonds to renew themselves."_ **

The sound of crying continues and Amber can hear each shaky inhale and exhale. She wants it to stop. She wants to wrap her arms around this boy and tell him it's okay and that everything will be fine.

**_"Oh my god. Deok-Su?"_ **

**_"We can't get them in time. Their hotel is too far away. It's a minimum fifteen minutes drive, we can't make it, love. I'm sorry. "_ **

**_"Okay, oh f*ck. Okay, do it. Give it to her. Oh God. Amber. Oh my God."_ **

A needle pierces into her forearm and liquid spills into her skin. It's weird and it feels oddly hot and heavy as it flows through her veins, spreading across her system.

**_"I hope you will forgive me Ambs."_ **

The gnawing pain within her chest vanishes and Amber once again succumbs to the darkness. She can't hear the crying boy anymore and Amber doesn't know if she feels happy about it or sad.

\----

There's a lot of things that Jimin feels insecure about.

Dancing was about clean lines, about fluid strength and about beautiful bodies. Long limbs and lanky muscular bodies were desirable then. Even without those things, one could still dance beautifully. Jimin always believes that dance never discriminates, it accepts all who work hard.

Being an idol is a different story. It's no longer just about pretty limbs. it's about every little thing that shouldn't matter but does now. It's the little protrusion of his belly after a meal, it's the flabby layer of skin that covers his ribs, it's extra layers of fat at the bottom of his chin. It's the swell of his cheeks when he smiles, it's the chaffing of his thighs when he walks, it's folds of skin in his back when he bends backwards.

Being an idol is about becoming dangerously unhealthy.

And yet the media praised him and his achievements in weight. He's suddenly a role model to look up to for his weight loss, suddenly deemed 'prettier', 'hotter', and 'sexier'. Sure, there were fans who would comment on their worries for his health but ultimately he's pretty sure they would lash at him the minute he gains back the weight he has loss.

Being an idol is about slowly killing yourself to look perfect for the camera.

He likes to think about how foie gras is made whenever he's on a diet. He'll think about how they were force-fed twice a day. Think about the video where the farmers forced tubes down their throats and how they held the birds in place, gloved fingers clamping over beaks as they pumped mashed feed into their bodies to fatten livers that eventually fail.

He'll think about which one is worst. Starving yourself, or being force fed until you died.

Starving always seemed to be the better option of the two, in this situation.

It helps that Jimin is insecure. It comes with the profession. In dance, he was insecure about his lines, about how he looked dancing on camera, about the twists and turns of his body. When he became a member of IDOL, it was so much more than just that. He was insecure about every little part of his goddamn body, from the look of his bare feet on camera all the way up to the hair on his head.

Sometimes, when he's nursing his bottle of water and there's this horrible horrible feeling of nausea swirling in his belly from his latest diet of fruits and water(It doesn't hurt anymore once you've passed a certain point).

He starts to daydream.

" ** _I'm sorry, Sir. Your soulmate has passed."_**

**Jimin blinked, staring blankly at the doctor before him. The doctor is silent. He's balding, grey hair peeking out from his roots. He sits there just watching him for his reaction.**

**But, Jimin doesn't know how to react.**

_**"What?"** _

Jimin's already sacrificed so much for his looks, so the girl in his dreams should be everything he is not.

He dreams of someone who loves her body, embracing it for what it is. Someone who eats healthily, at least healthy enough to keep her alive with him until they're both old and grey, and laughs a lot.

Jimin likes laughter and smiles, big wide smiles that would make him smile too.

He would like that.

**_"I'm...I'm sorry for your loss."_ **

**_"I...I don't understand?"_ **

**_"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?_ " Taehyung snapped, stepping forward.**  ** _"YOU CAN'T JUST DROP A BOMB LIKE THAT?"_ His best friend is angry, so, so angry. Jimin can barely feel Yoongi's hand rubbing his shoulders in calming circles. His seven best friends stood in the room in silence but he knows that each one of them were angry at the words of the doctor.**

 **Unlike them, Jimin doesn't feel anything**.

Jimin's parents were childhood sweethearts. They were in love from the start and they never stopped loving each other. It was natural that Jimin longed for such a love himself, wanted to write love letters to his one just like how his dad used to do in high school.

Jimin knows what he will write, but he won't start penning it down until he meets her.

It's okay if he has to wait.

He doesn't mind waiting. Jimin knows that good things only come if you're patient. It's how the world works.

**Jimin does not know what to feel.**

**_"You say you received Flower Crowns of the Soul without touching anyone."_  The doctor is purposely slowing down, speaking carefully and clinically.  _"Your flowers are wilting instead of simply disappearing and you feel pain in your chest, am I right?"_ There's a tinge of pity in his expression and for a second Jimin pities him too.**

**Because the doctor looked so sad.**

**_"Y-yes."_ Jimin whispers. His voice is small, and it reminds him of the time when he was young. When he's done something wrong and his teacher is scolding him.**

**Only this time, he's done nothing wrong**

**_"Wilting flowers would mean a loss of the bond, the pain could be the result of such a loss."_ The doctor taps his pen on his clipboard, riffling through the papers that determined Jimin's fate.  _"_** **_If you didn't touch anyone when the flowers bloomed, then the reason why you received the Flower Crown would probably mean that your soul bond is reacting at the very last moment."_ **

**_"Last moment of what?" Jimin_ 's voice is breaking and it doesn't sound like his voice.**

**_"Her passing."_ **

**No words escape Jimin's mouth, even when he opens it.**

He doesn't have to wait now. Jimin realizes. It's a weird feeling that he doesn't understand and in normal circumstances, he would have laughed, but he can't do it now. He can't seem to speak, something has robbed him off his voice.

He curls on his bed, fisting at the sheets as he sighs, eyes staring at the light that emits from the doorway.

His hyungs (brothers) were talking softly in low harried voices, that would have been soothing if he wasn't so f*cking sure about what they were talking about. Jimin slowly, robotically, plucks a stalk from his head, bringing it close to his face.

When it wilts, it's still beautiful. Jimin cracks a broken smile as he stares at the flower with trembling fingers. The flowers were cracking at the edges, golden streaks running through petals like kintsukuroi (golden repair, Japanese art). The gold drips from its edges, disappearing the minute it touches his skin.

It's beautiful. But just like the setting sun, it's ephemeral and fleeting, and like the setting sun soon night would come.

Warmth drips from the corners of Jimin's eyes and he whimpers as a jolt of pain thrums from deep within his chest. It reminds him of the pain when his pet guinea pig had died in his arms, it reminds him of the pain when he had seen his beautiful grandmother and grandfather in their caskets, soulmates who die at the same time are considered the luckiest of soulmates.

Soulmate.

His poor, poor soulmate.

He's whimpering, soft little dry sobs that he muffled in his pillow, but he's unable to tear his eyes away from the flower sitting in his palm. He can't even distinguish whether or not he was crying or if he's having a seizure. Each sob is a nauseous gasp for breath and tears still dripping from his eyes like a leaking faucet.

He didn't want to be alone.

The thought sends a fresh bout of pain and sadness through his chest and he watched transfixed as the beautiful flower in his palms glowed. The cracks spreading across the entire petal. Outside, Yoongi is raising his voice arguing with Taehyung. Namjoon is yelling at them to stop.

No.

Jimin watched as the petals burst, splintering into a thousand specks of gold.

No.

A scream rips from his throat and the most unbearable pain wrecks through his heart, breaking it cleanly into two.

**Jimin is now alone.**

       

 

 


	18. Truth

**Soulbond suppressants** :

**Drugs that inhibit the function of soul bonds. They have the ability to reduce the activity of soul bonds, forcibly putting an end to any forms of soul marking for unknown periods of time.**

"If this doesn't work, please don't give up okay? I'm serious." MiRi's voice snaps Amber out of her reading. "I'll freaking go to every house in this Goddamn huge ass country to search for Da-Hee if I really have to."

Amber raised her head to meet MiRi's gaze with a quick painful smile.

It is understandable why Da-Hee had not given her contact.

According to MiRi, Jungkook had been a rock in her body. All the guy did was stare at the concert like a crazy BTS fan, with huge eyes as if he were a squid or a deer in headlights. Da-Hee and MiRi had spent the whole time trying to revive him and snap him out of the daze.

Both of them had assumed that the guy must be someone who lived under a rock and had no exposure to pop culture.

She's not sure what's the reason for his reaction. Maybe he's just extremely surprised by the lack of his penis? Maybe losing his family jewels was more shocking than expected? Or maybe he's freaked out from being pressed so close to crazy fangirls screaming his name.

"Please don't. " Amber replies. "Those people whose homes you would be disturbing might call the police." Amber snorts, a soft smile on her lips, but the smile doesn't reach her eyes. She turned back to read, fingers scrolling through her phone.

**They are typically used to reduce the feelings of soul loss from the death of a soulmate or to help patients who have experienced soul violation.**

"I'll buy all their albums and try to get us a fanmeet." MiRi proclaimed.

"No, don't. Don't blow your wallet for me." Amber says. "Anyway, Jungkook might not even recognise you. If what you're saying is true. He probably didn't even notice his Mom. For all we know, Da-Hee doesn't know a thing too!"

**For patients experiencing soul violation, the typical treatment would be skin to skin contact with their soulmates, which would staunch the soul bleeding.**

"If Jungkook doesn't recognise me I will literally whoop his ass!" MiRi brandished her palm like a weapon.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure the only thing he will recognise will be the feeling of your slaps on his face." Amber smirked.

**Doctors will only administer the medication if soulmates are not available and the bleeding is too severe.**

"If that's what it takes then I will bitch slap him and wake his stupid ass up."MiRi growled.

"MIRI!"

"Yeah, okay okay." MiRi sighed. "Sorry..." She said softly. "I'm sorry BFF." MiRi shoots her a guilty look, lips trembling as she sniffed.

Her best friend looked worse for wear. There were deep circles under her usually clear and pretty eyes and they were now red and bloodshot from the lack of sleep. It's clear that she's been beating herself up for the past few days. "This is all my fault."

"Oh shut up." Amber glared at her pointedly. Her best friend needed to stop feeling guilty for things she did nothing wrong. "It's the crazy fan's fault. Plus, my stupid decision to go to the toilet alone. And please don't feel sorry about not getting Da-Hee's contact, even I thought we would just be one-off friends."

"Well, at least you're closer to your mother-in-law than her son. I for one, am hella scared of Deok-Su's mom." MiRi shivered at the thought. "That woman hates me for wearing too much pants!"

"I guess, I did overcome one obstacle, didn't I?"

"Yup, that's one down! Six more to go! Unless the dads count. "

"Oh my God. Shut up." Amber turned back to read.

**It is not advisable to administer such medicine for any other reason because of the possible side effects.**

"And we're getting that b*tch in jail no matter what okay? I swear. I'll literally hunt her down if the police can't do it. I WILL!" MiRi told her. Amber sighed, smiling softly.

The area had been too dark, the CCTVs were not working and just about everything was not going her way when it came to law enforcement. She's sure that the rich girls must have bribed them to delete evidence, sure that the nearby store owners that the police interviewed had been paid to not speak.

She's not that sure about how this works but the justice she deserves was definitely taking its time to be served. Her case, with its too convenient lack of evidence isn't uncommon, and like all such cases they were placed within a waiting list that the police would not be prioritizing anytime soon.

Sure, she could push it by going to the media, talk about the lack of security at the BTS concert and the unethical sasaengs, but that would mean dragging down their reputation. There were too many what ifs when it came to the media, and her possible fame would bring huge consequences that Amber doesn't want to risk.

The internet is a cruel and unforgiving place that tends to spin webs of lies over the truth for more views.

"Please don't waste your life on this. I'm serious." Amber glanced at her best friend, giving her a look. "And don't blame yourself about the soul suppressants. "

"We could have tried harder to get them to meet you though. I really-ARGHHH STUPID F*CKING BTS! WHY DID THEY SAY NO TO MY BABY DEOK-SU?"

"Deok-Su isn't their best friend MiRi...They aren't exactly chummy." Amber shrugs bitterly. "They're colleagues and Deok-Su's only worked with what? Namjoon? As if they would listen to him."

Amber skips through the list of side effects and heads for the next tab in her browser, aka  **How to Revive your Soulbond after consuming Soul Suppressants**

**Step 1: Find your soulmate**

"God, he's really close to Hoseok though! Plus, he said everything! He told them you were Jimin's soulmate and you wanted to meet him!" MiRi tapped her left foot frantically against the white marble floor, a sign of frustrated anger.

"Why the hell did they not believe him?" MiRi groaned. "They are like so dumb, like so so so so dumb. If I were them, at that age?" MiRi scoffed. "I would be itching for a soulmate!"

**Step 2: Stay close to your soulmate for long periods of time**

" MiRi..." Amber exhales, giving her best friend a weak smile. "It probably happens to them all the time with crazy fans. I bet they receive the same message from thousands of girls," Amber hums. Oh wait...She glanced at MiRi, looking frightened. "Deok-Su didn't ruin his reputation did he?"

"Of course not. My baby's a valuable asset!" MiRi shook her head, grinning at her proudly. "If he gets fired for dumb shit like this, I'll eat fresh horseradish and shit alien babies. Dude was responsible for like fifty of their hit songs, the company won't just sack him for texting weird shit."

The announcement through the PA system breaks them out of their conversation. Amber recites the flight number in her head. She glanced down at her own ticket, eyes flickering across the black print which mirrors the letters in her head.

MiRi sighed, glancing at the glass door. "Do you really have to go?"

Amber turned to follow her gaze, staring at the departure gate. She watched as security checked the passports of a group of tourists, each of them had wide smiles on their faces that was the complete opposite of what she felt inside. Her eyes drifted down at the suitcase beside her. It's cold in the airport and somehow the cold eats at her, mirroring the blizzard that blazed deep inside her soul.

"Yeah, I could spend my whole life here trying to get them to notice me, but you know me MiRi." Amber sighed, shaking her head. "They've got big dreams. I've got big dreams." She drawled, a sad smirk on her lips. "If fate doesn't want us to happen then so be it."

F*ck you lady fate. F*ck you. 

\---

"How can you give up so fast?" MiRi glanced at her, alarmed. Amber's lips twitched.

"I have not given up." Amber replies. Amber gives out a bark of exasperated laughter. "I just have school babe." Amber shakes her head and sighs. "I can't just skip it forever."

Excuses.

A part of Amber just wants to run away from her problems, run away from the concept of love and just not think about it. The incident with that sasaeng made her realize exactly what she would be signing up for by being with them. She just wants to rest, curl up with her parents and just pretend that she's young and small again.

Another part of Amber, the one that's deep, deep inside, hidden by layers and layers of cold. She's is angry, angry that she's the one fighting for this instead of her seven soulmates. Angry that without a soulbond, there's no way to convince them of her existence. It doesn't help that they were famous and had fans that would probably say the same things she would say to try to convince them that she's their soulmate.

**Step 3: Physical touch is extremely important in speeding up the process**

Amber knows it would definitely not go well. She's thought about her big reveal a thousand of times in thousands of ways. Each sounded more stupid than the next.

Hi! I'm your soulmate but I was violated, so I took the pills that conveniently muted our soulmate status!

Oh and I'm also soulmates to all seven of you, HAHAHA reverse harem you know? So if you would just hold my hand and let me stick to you 24/7 I'm sure you will see the soulbond one day!

There is no way they would believe her. It hurts that she knows and they don't. It scares her that they don't. Amber swallowed, inhaling slowly trying to will back tears and dispelled her thoughts of the future.

A very sad future.

Her best bet would be Jungkook but getting to him proved to be harder than expected. With Jungkook, she could just say 'Hey, you know remember when we switched out? You were in my body, I was in yours? My BFF was slapping your face? Do you even remember your Mom being beside you?'

That already sounded bad and Amber's pretty sure some fans had theorized that Jungkook had a body exchange on stage. There was an analysis post trending on twitter critiquing her actions when she had been in Jungkook's body. This means that countless girls could be, right now...

...At this very moment.

...Sending messages to BigHit Entertainment trying to convince them that they were the one.

With such a huge fan base, Amber's sure that BTS had millions of thirsty fans interested in getting into their pants.

**Step 4: Getting your soulmate to fall in love with you is the fastest way**

"I don't know," Amber sighs. This mess just made her head hurt, and her wounds throb. It just seemed so hard. " I might just keep searching on facebook for a Da-Hee. Plus, I can't bunk with you forever in Korea. I want to be an artist and I will, soulmate or not."

"Urgh. Fine, but come over during the break and apply for a soulmate VISA if you can't take it."

"I will."

She leaves at that note, not before giving MiRi a big hug and a kiss on her cheek.

The flight home passes quickly, somehow. She spends time just reading up on soulmates and soulbonds. Her case isn't rare, there are stories online of people who have consumed soulbond suppressants before meeting their soulmates, but none of them are in a polyamorous relationship and none of their soulmates are famous.

The answers to her questions on what to do commonly consist of 'Just befriend the person' or 'Just tell the person and show them the medical document.' Amber had sighed at that and went back to research on the side effects of a soulbond suppressant for living soulmates.

**Side effect 1: Pain of the soul, typically described as the feeling of heartbreak, but the magnitude varies from person to person**

When she steps out of the arrival gate, the familiar sight of her mother and father sends tears running down her face and she's hugging them the minute she sees them. One big breakfast from Mcdonalds and two cups of coffee later, she blurted out the entire story to them in a secluded spot the store quiet at the wee hours of the morning, teary-eyed and crackly voiced.

"Don't worry about it dear, please. life sucks now but I'm sure it'll work out fine." Her Mom had soothed, gently rubbing her arm.

"As a soulbond researcher, I can promise you that soulbond suppressants do not mean that your soulbond will disappear forever." Her Dad nodded, brows furrowing together deep in thought. "The soul is a marvellous thing. It will try to find all kinds of ways to go back to their other halves."

**Side effect 2: Fatigue and confusion**

"What should I do? Seriously?" Amber sighed, downing the last bit of her coffee. For some reason, it barely does anything to her sleep-addled mind.

"Work on looking for Mrs Wang? We'll try to save up more money for you to go to Korea, can't have MiRi spending so much on you." Her Mom nods. "I'll take on a job in the meantime."

"Wait, OMG. Mom, really you don't have to. I'll work or something." Amber's eyes widened at her Mom's words.

Soulbond Researchers like her Dad, they don't earn that much. It's a job that has a largely fluctuating pay with income coming in based on that division's achievements in research. Well, if you think about it. If the researcher has no research, why will he make a lot of money? It's only if they actually discover something new, patent it and sell it will they make tons of dollars.

Her Dad's income isn't a small sum but in this country of extremely high standards of living with housing prices hitting about a million dollars on average. It's not enough to really get by and they struggle to even live comfortably.

**Side effect 3: Depression**

"Nonsense, I do intend to go back to the workforce and continue my work as a Translator or a teacher for the languages I know. " Her Mom shrugged. "That'll be enough to cover the air tickets you need to go to Korea every once in a while and some more."

Amber glanced at her mom, turning to look at her Dad in despair. She really didn't want to rope her parents into this. While Amber isn't that old, at this age she's more concerned over her parent's retirement which she dreams to be one filled with lots of relaxing vacations and no concerns over money.

Amber would really beat herself up if they ended up having to scrimp and save for the rest of their lives because of her and while she has seven rich soulmates, with extremely high net worth. They had their own parents to think of and Amber's not sure how much money the company takes.

If the rumours online were true, some companies would take up to 60% of their idol's pay, not including living expenses of the idols.

"Dad..."

"Don't worry about it, kid. We always said we would support your dreams, we'll get you to where you want to go. On that note!" He smiled. "I'm working on soulbond suppressants. If you have any questions you can ask me."

And she did. Amber bombards her Dad with thousands of questions which he answers carefully and clearly. It's only when she needs to head to the toilet that she leaves her seat. Amber sighed, plonking onto the toilet bowl to empty her bladder.

Her life had definitely gotten a lot more confusing but Amber hopes that one day she can look back at this and laugh without a care in the world. Amber quickly flushes and washes her hands speedily, flicking fingers towards the sink before heading out to her parents.

She sighed, pushing on the door and stepping out.

**Side effect 4: The growing need for physical touch**

It's the smell that hits her first. It's warm, salty and thick, with the coiling mix of scented perfume and body odour. That's not what bothers her. What bothers her is the masculine scent that permeates the air. It's musky and sweet the spicy burn of pears, the tang of black vanilla and the refreshing tinge of the sea.

Amber knows she would regret opening her eyes but she does.

She does.

\---

The light of the hotel room is dimmed such that the glow from the lamp cuts across the room, brushing against only some of the features of the human beings on the bed. It's enough to decipher exactly what was going on before her, aided by the crude sound that echoes across the quiet room.

It's the sight of a lean muscular body pistoning his dick repeatedly into a screaming woman, whose voice was rising to annoyingly high pitched levels. His hips were snapping back and forth erratically, fingers digging into her thin bony hips as he thrusts into her in an animalistic manner. His abdominal muscles rippled as he curled his hips again and again, each thrust results in the muscular dip of the muscles on his ass.

Amber wished she had looked away, but she just couldn't.

It was primitive and like hardcore pornography, but at the same time, almost...

Almost beautiful.

F*ck.

" _I love you."_ Jungkook moaned a soft yet sweet sound that is somehow still capable of lighting a fire deep within her lower body, as he released into the woman, body spasming as he came. His body curls, abdominal muscles clenching as his entire being vibrates with his pleasure.

F*ck.

Even like this, he was beautiful. He was so so so beautiful. His skin glistened, slightly wet with sweat that reflected the soft glow of the lights in the hotel room causing his skin to illuminate. His lips were parted in pleasure, moist and swollen red.

His eyelashes were fluttering, fluttering fluttering like the soft wispy wings of fuzzy moths and then they were opening, revealing glazed dark orbs with blown up pupils from pleasure.

They shifted lazily and-

Amber's bolting, scrambling to the corner beside the wardrobe. She makes her body as small as possible and hiding with the least sound possible. Body flicker. Body f*cking flicker. How?

Why?

Then she remembers.

**Side effect 5: The manifestation of the GenZ soulbond in other words new soulbonds, to rectify the loss**

Holy f*cking hell.

Amber trembles, pressing her fingers together, interlacing them in silent prayer. Fear hammering through her frame as she shook within the confines of the wardrobe, swallowing back bitter tears and the sight replays in her mind.

Somehow it sends a burst of fresh tears that coat the surface of pupils and collect at the corners of her eyes. Feelings that she doesn't understand wrecks through her entire body as she replays the scene in her mind like a broken record.

Amber wanted to be an artist. She wanted to make works of art all day, in a nice little home in the countryside with a dog or a cat, maybe both. She wanted a soulmate who would love her and support her dreams, wanted the tunes of BTS songs to play in the background.

Now that she's here, hiding from her soulmate because not only would he assume that she was a crazy fan who sneaked into his hotel room. He would no doubt throw her out even if she were his soulmate because he's in love with some other girl who's so much prettier than her.

There's no reason for her to feel so betrayed, so angered and so so so sad. There's just no reason except the fact that society has brainwashed her to think that her soulmate would always be hers.

And he's not.

And he won't love her.

Because the boy that was supposed to be her soulmate is in love with someone else.

 

 


	19. Stupid

She's very alert, so the harried whispers from the room is enough to send her body stiff. From the shadows of the wardrobe, she can hear the girl leave the room and _Jungkook_ whispering his goodbyes. Someone flings open the door and storms into the room, his footsteps loud and thunderous despite the carpeted rug.

" _What the f*ck man? Why the hell are you still seeing her?"_ The raspy growl is obvious and familiar.

Yoongi.

Jungkook's reply is mumbled.

" _Kid, god damn it. This is not a game."_ Yoongi.'s voice is raised, panicky almost as if he's scared that she would find out. That Jungkook's soulmate would find out.

_"I'm sorry...I love her and I chose her, nothing can change that. I'm sorry."_

_"Are you mocking us? You f*cker."_

He must have raised his fist because the third person's voice that trails out is familiar.

Jimin

 _"Yoongi_. _...Don't bother it's okay. I shouldn't have waited too. I should have just screwed with this whole bullshit."_

His words...Were like daggers that stabbed her repeatedly in the heart. It...It hurt and she didn't know it could hurt so much. It breaks something inside her, something that had been holding her up this entire time.

Something that had convinced her that without the flowers on her head, Jimin would still love her for who she is.

_"Jimin, please Jungkook's just being stupid."_

_"He's smarter than me. I don't want a soulmate. I don't want her."_

His words were poison forced down her gullet. Words that reflected those of the sasaeng. Amber had only been strong because she believed that her soulmate would say the exact opposite of what they had said. Now, she's not sure anymore.

Her body felt cold and empty, but the tears continued to trickle down from her cheeks, streaking across her skin.

"Jimin _..."_

_"Don't say it, don't. Do whatever the f*ck you want Jungkook. F*ck that girl until your soulmate finds out I don't care."_

The usually soft boy storms out of the room and slams the door, the bang that follows is so loud it conveys the anger and frustration that he feels.

The silence that echoes is deafening.

" _I'm sorry hyung..."_ Jungkook starts to say. " _Love is a choice, it's not a stupid play of God. I just...I'm not going to be controlled in this game of life. I'm going to control it, you know?"_

_"Then, what are you going to do when your soulmate finds out?"_

_"I'll just tell her. That I don't want her. That I'll marry Ha-eun, the girl I love and that I chose."_

Jungkook was a stupid asshole.

_"You f*cking suck. You stupid shit, you better not say it like that. That's the most toxic way to tell her. "_

_"I won't. I won't, I promise."_

You did. Amber sniffed, her eyes were leaking but she doesn't know why.

In all honesty, they were all strangers. The word soulmate was just a fake title that promised too much and Amber was starting to realize that everything that she had been hearing about soulmates was a lie.

" _How Jungkook? HOW? You have a body exchange soulmate bond! What do you want? For her to find you in bed with her? For her to meet Ha-eun?" Yoongi_ is screaming at him.

" _I took Jimin's soulbond suppressants."_

_"You-You what?"_

Yoongi's words mirrored her thoughts.

_"And I ate them because I don't want her and I don't love her."_

He really, he really didn't want her at all.

The burst of pain that spreads throughout her body is tortuous and it takes everything for her to not let the scream that bubbles in her throat from escaping.

Amber needed an out. She wanted to get out of here, away from the disaster zone threatening to blow. She didn't want to hear his words, didn't want him to tell her everything she did not want to hear. She's crawling, escaping through the room and heading straight for the hotel door.

To be fair, her body feels numb and she's not exactly in the right state of mind so she wasn't really that discrete in her blatant attempts to escape.

The soft mellifluous voice that echoes behind her is something she does not expect.

" _Who are you?"_

\---

Amber swallowed thickly, staring up at the man before her.

Jimin looked like shit if that was even possible. Amber swears that her mind places an automatic snapchat filter over him that dulls down all the imperfections and she still finds him insanely attractive despite how sickly he looked.

If she looks pass that, hidden beneath the golden sparkles and rainbow lights is a guy that looked as if he had not been sleeping for days. The pouches of fat beneath his eyes were swollen and red. It sunk heavy on his pallid face. The eyebags were lightly carved into his skin and they stretched downwards, making him appear haggard and drained.

The usually sparkly eyes that would glisten brightly when he spoke were bloodshot, streaked with tiny red veins and splotches of burst vessels. He appeared to have been crying his eyes raw for days on end without sleep and the thought of that sent a jolt of concern through her heart, burning deep within her chest.

The pretty flowers that once streaked through his hair were all gone and it makes Amber sad just looking at those empty locks of fluffy, voluminous pretty soft hair. She watched him as he stood languidly, hands fisted into a huge dark orange sweater that hung across his skinny frame and stretched to cover the top of his muscular thighs.

He met her gaze steadily with droopy slightly rectangular eyes. Dark orbs staring at her carefully as they traced over her features as if he were reading a book. It wasn't a slow, languid drag of his line of sight that would insinuate a sexual gaze. Rather, Jimin's eyes bored into her steely, cold and unfeeling.

It scared her.

It made her think of things she didn't want to think of.

She watched as he raised his brow and his face stiffened further as they pressed tightly into a pinched frown. His lips turning downwards into a curve, the shift of muscle resulting in cute little indents that formed on his chin.

Anyway, Amber doesn't know what to say. She really doesn't.

 _"I'm..."_  Amber cleared her throat, wincing at the rasp to her voice from the burn of tears. He continued to watch her. The burn of hostility in his gaze made her feel even more self-conscious and her mind blanks out from the look he gives her.  _"The cleaner."_  She replied lamely.

Aw what kind of crack was she sprouting? Amber winced mentally.

 _"Funny,"_  Jimin drawled, brushing his fingers across the leather arm of the sofa. She watched as he leans against the furniture, crossing his feet with his chin raised. He looked like he was modelling for something, and the sheer aesthetics of the whole scene before her eyes distracts her for a second.

" _I didn't know cleaners wore hoodies."_  Jimin snorted, replying sarcastically and raising a well-threaded brow.

 _"We do now,"_  Amber replied back quickly, her voice perky with her anxiety. The Amber in her head is gnawing on her nails like a chipmunk, eyes darting around rapidly anxiously. A stiff smile stretched across her lips as she grinned awkwardly at the dark angel before her. _"So that we can blend in with the masses."_

 _"Hmm?"_  He hummed, the rumble that escapes his throat is a pretty soft raspy tune.

So pretty.

_"Uh, we don't want people to have a stereotype that this job is a demeaning and dirty one meant for only the less educated, so to confuse people we decided to make hoodies our new uniform."_

_"If the hoodie is a uniform..."_  He teased and she swears his eyes crinkles with amusement. There's lilt in his voice as he entertains her, he crossed his arms brushing his lips with the back of his index finger in thought as he watched her speak.  _"Then, where is your equipment?"_

_"I ran out of materials. If we run out of cleaning materials, we use the hoodie."_

She's completely bullshitting at this point, and it's not even high-grade bullshit. It's obvious and it's exactly like trying to convince an artist who's not colour blind that the colour red is the colour blue in an essay.

Jimin's lips twitch and a familiar little smile adorned his features briefly. It's a cute smirk that stretches his plush lips and makes her heart hammer within her chest at the sight. Then it drops as quickly as it came, like a trick of the light.

 _"You're funny,"_  He sniffs as he crossed the room to loom before her. He lets out a dramatic sigh as he watched her from under his nose.  _"But cut the crap."_ Jimin hissed. His voice was dark and serious this time, without the lilt of humour. It's the lowest that she's ever heard from him and it scares her a little.

The venomous drip of each syllabus burns and causes her heart to pound in her chest.

Honestly, if this were an anime, there would be lightning strikes behind him and the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance.

_"How. Did. You. Get. In?"_

He spits out each word carefully.

 _"I j-just appeared here-"_  Amber stammered out the truth. She sucked at lying. She can't do it. Really.

Jimin clearly thinks she's still lying. He really does not know her very well.

 _"You don't want to tell me huh?"_ Jimin shrugged, the motion makes his blonde locks bounce.  _"Then I'll just have to call security."_  He drawled, pulling his smartphone from his pocket to tap into it quickly with ring adorned fingers.

 _"No wait stop! I'm-"_  Amber's brows furrowed as her eyes met his steadily, trying to beseech him to believe her. She inhaled and-

She did it.

_"I'm your soulmate."_

For a moment, there's silence as he stared at her carefully. Her heart was thrumming in her chest as she watched him anxiously, searching for some form of recognition in his eyes. Anything really, but all he gives her was a bored almost exasperated expression. It's a look of pure unadulterated disgust that flickers across his face that frightens her.

It makes her feel...like...like shit. Like she was the horse dung beneath his feet, or dog poop that he had accidentally stepped on in the park. It's a look that she knows rarely graces the boy's features in thousands of their reality shows.

While those videos were not clear depictions of his personality and were possibly highly censored, Jimin was always gentle and soft-spoken in all those videos. When he didn't like something, he was the kind of guy to just simmer into a moody expression rather than express his feelings on his face like an open book.

The fact that his face was so open now is either because his usual personality in front of the camera was just an act or because he really, really, really disliked her.

Then his lips were twitching and he smiles robotically. The kind of smile that doesn't reach your eyes and consists of only a lift of muscles. Also what Amber likes to call, the customer service smile, aka the smile you give to a shitty customer because if you don't you'll get fired by your boss.

It's the smile that lets Amber know that he thinks she's not worth his time and that he basically detest her. Maybe, even hates her.

 _"Stop trying to fool us, really, all the BTS members know our soulmates."_ He replies softly with a fake chuckle as he continued to tap into his phone, possibly reporting her to the police.

Lies.

Maybe Amber shouldn't have just said it like that, she opened her mouth to speak wanting to explain herself, but his next words stopped her.

 _"Plus, I know for sure you're not my soulmate."_ He glanced at her as he slipped his phone into his pocket. This time he meets her gaze steadily and he's really seeing her, really looking at her with those dark deep brown eyes.

_"Because my soulmate is dead."_

Dead? Amber's eyes widened as she stared at him.

Wait what?

He smiles cheerily and tilts his head to the side. His eyes disappear as his lips stretched into a smile. It's wide and reveals all his teeth, but it's clearly painful.

 _"Yup, dead."_ He replies, with fake cheer in response to her expression.

The door behind her opens abruptly and she is lifted up by huge, muscular men in suits who dragged her out of the door without a word. She watched as the beautiful boy crossed his arms, a dark smile on his lips as shadows draped across his angelic features.

 _"I'm sorry little ARMY, don't ever sneak again and don't f*ck with me about soulmates."_  His eyes darkened as his brows furrowed into a dark, angry glare. He stepped forward, looming over her body and his lips stretched into a snarl.  _"You will never be enough to replace her."_

The last bit is a poisonous hiss that drips out of his mouth like acid. He gives her a final cold smirk like a dark prince of the night.

It's so unlike him. She's never ever heard of such a tone in his voice and it spreads across her skin, chilling her to the bone as she watched him in shock. Accompanied by those obsidian shards he had for eyes that bored into her flesh, it's scary seeing the usually happy and gentle boy acting so dangerous and moody.

Like an angel who had fallen from the heavens.

Then again, all Amber knows was the Jimin of the media world. She doesn't know the real Jimin and maybe the real Jimin has always been like this.

Cold, angst and...

Stupid.

Replace who? Herself????

What the f*ck Jimin.

The boy turns, ruffling his hair with his hand and Amber watched as the door closes behind him, slamming shut.

Why?

She stared at the closed door as security continued to drag her sorry ass across the carpeted rug.

Why was he so convinced that she was dead?

 


	20. The Plan

Life kind of sucked big time.

"You don't want to search for Da-Hee anymore? Amber!" MiRi's bewildered voice is so loud that Amber has to pull her phone away from her ear.

"MiRi..." Amber sighed for the thousand time that day. Her fingers rubbing her pinky sadly. The red string had disappeared but at least the rose print remained.

A symbol of her future with Taehyung.

"Jungkook doesn't want me. Even if we convinced his Mom, dude already said loud and f*cking clear that he's going to marry Ha-eun." The last bit comes out of her lips angry and sad. The thought no longer sends a dull ache across her soul and a prickle of tears that sting her eyes.

She's cried enough after the whole fiasco with the authorities.

The staff members of BigHit Entertainment had only released her after careful interrogation, a full scan through her phone and finally opting to report her to the police for trespassing. The questions they ask are degrading, the looks that they gave her burned her skin. Those looks were nothing compared to the looks Jimin had given her, which hurt more than anything and haunted her thoughts and dreams. Still, it was stressful to not give in to their tricks in an attempt to get her to admit that she was a stalker fan who had sneaked into BTS's hotel room.

She only managed to get away with just a warning because of the support from the International Soulmate Facility in South Korea who verified her sudden appearance in a country about 3000 miles away from her home country,

In other words, it had been a whole afternoon of trying to convince people who were 99.9% sure she was a sasaeng that she was an innocent bystander. The only thing she's learnt from this was that, if she said her soulmate was one of the staff members, the authorities were more inclined to believe her. The minute she said one of the BTS members was her soulmate, they clamped up and lumped her into the crazy fans section.

Aka the section that deserved to go to jail.

Amber now understands the reason why some people who were innocent just ended up in jail and were only released when authorities caught the true perpetrator.

"And he ate suppressants!" Amber snapped into the phone, rubbing her hair in exasperation. "If that's not severing our ties, I don't know what it is."

"He's either not educated about the side effects of suppressants or he just doesn't give a damn. " MiRi groaned. "Seriously? The actress and model Park Ha-eun? That bitch is like the most plastic Korean woman I've ever seen, not that I have a thing against plastic surgery, but the way her face is done...I bet if he f*cked her mouth a little too hard he would be sending her straight to the ER."

"MiRi, you're evil."

"And you're too nice. Ambs, screw Jungkook. If he's not into soulmates, then screw him! You've got six other hot fish to catch. It's his loss. "

"I don't know..."

"Let me tell you, you and I both know that I have dated many men before Deok-Su, because I was stupid," MiRi said. Amber snorted at that, a wry smile on her lips. There was a point of time when MiRi was on her rebellious streak and started partaking in men like they were buffet meals.

"And God, they were nothing compared to him. It's like comparing pagpag, you know the left-over meat picked from garbage dumps that are rewashed and sold in Manila? Yeah that, compare that with grade A wagyu." MiRi let's out a dramatic groan.

MiRi continued on. "Maybe that's not a good analogy. Pagpag can taste pretty good if well cooked...Um, It's like asking a baby teach you how climate change works versus getting taught by a hot scientist from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The kid would be cute, but you'll get nothing you need, just crap talk with lots of spittle."

MiRi coughed. "Okay, you get the point right?"

"Yeah I do." Amber hummed in amusement. Those analogies were weird.

"I'm pretty sure if you get chummy with his buddies. Our boy here will eventually get so f*cking jealous he'll beg to fly back into your arms. He'll kneel before you, kiss your feet and worship the ground you walk. At that point if you ordered him to let you sit on his face, he'll probably sob grateful tears of joy."

A bubble of laughter bursts from Amber's lips as she giggles at MiRi's lewd words. "You sound so sure..."

"Because fate doesn't play stupid games," MiRi's voice is raised and tinged with her irritation and anger. As a firm believer in the soulbond and a recipient of one that had made her the happiest woman alive, MiRi is downright pissed off at anyone who dares to question its validity.

The feeling she's getting is kind of the same as the one where you talk about Anti-Vaxxers.

"It doesn't just give you a soulbond for no reason. He's shitting on one of the things that basically all of humanity treasures more than our lives. Watch him, he's going to regret so bad."

MiRi inhaled as she continued.

"And if he continues to live in denial then f*ck him! You'll already have plenty of dick to satisfy you in bed. One less wouldn't hurt and in the future, when you're happy with your soulmates with five kids and a cute little munchkin cat plus a corgi for good measure. He'll be sobbing at home just thinking about everything he lost."

"MiRi." Amber giggled at her words. It does feel kind of good, just thinking about that asshole regretting his life decisions.

"Plus, I'm sure Da-Hee will beat the living shit out of him for throwing you away if she knew." MiRi cackled. "And Jimin? He sounds like a lovesick wreck, chasing after your ghost. He'll turn around, we just need to get the idea that you're dead out of his head."

"Only if I have evidence that we have a soulbond."

"Well, with Jungkook consuming suppressants like it's candy. I'm pretty sure the side effects like the GenZ bond will be going haywire. You'll definitely see something, I'm sure of it." MiRi hummed. "When it comes to soulbonds, don't even try to fight that shit. It just increases in intensity the more you try to avoid your soulmates, I learned that the hard way."

"I know," Amber sighs. "I still remember the time when you showed up at the CEO meeting in pyjamas."

"Right? I can't believe I hated my baby's guts at that time. I was so convinced he existed to ruin my life and my panties." MiRi laughed. "You see Ambs? Don't worry, everything will turn out okay you just need to keep fighting okay?"

"I'm so tired MiRi...It's hard." Amber groaned. "I wish it were easier. Couldn't I have gotten like a strawberry farmer or some shit?"

"Hey, life works weird and I doubt you'll be happy with strawberries all your life. Gotta have some variety." MiRi teased. "But come on don't give up! We'll start slow okay? We'll work through this one step at a time and I'll help you the whole way."

Amber's eyes widened at her words.

"WAIT a second! Don't spend more money!"

"GAHAHAHA, don't worry. I'm not funding your whole life, Sis. just giving you a nudge in the right direction." MiRi laughed heartily. "This is an investment, you'll be indebted to me and thus my future children. Then you'll have no choice but to spoil them rotten."

'I would already spoil them rotten regardless."

"You can pay me back when you're established. Anyway, I totally have lots of coin to spare, been investing in shares and doing e-commerce so it's not like I've been a gold digger wife."

"Smart."

"Yes, so what's your plan?"

Amber sighed, blurting out her next reply without really thinking about it.

"Hmm...Go home and just be mentally prepared to be uprooted anytime?"

"WRONG!" MiRi's squawk through the phone is deafening and the sound creates static that hurts her eardrums. "Ambs! Have you not learned anything from your experience with me?"

"Uh..."

"Okay, you dummy! You're getting an apartment in South Korea that is close to their dormitory and you're going to transfer to the nearest art school there under the soulmate school exchange."

"I am?"

"Yes, you are and you're going to occasionally hang out with Deok-Su who will sneak you into BigHit Entertainment whenever he gets the chance."

"WAIT WHAT?"

"And while you're doing all that, we're going to up your self-confidence and destroy that mentality that you're not worthy for famous soulmates because honestly those seven men are human and you deserve to be worshipped like a queen."

"Wow, sounds like a better plan than mine."

"Yes, I've thought about this well. Now get up and go to the road, the chauffeur is reaching in a minute."

"What will I ever do without you?"

"Probably, sit around like a duck and wait for life to give you everything instead of fighting for what you want."

"That's true."


	21. SoulDream

Whatever Taehyung's lying on, it's comfy.

His body sinks into its clutches. The bed wrapping it's greedy fingers around his body, moulding itself around him like a fluffy marshmallow. The sheets are silky and they feel absolutely amazing against his skin. Everything is soft and silky to the touch.

That includes the warm pillow in his arms.

It's the perfect shape and size. Toasty warm and very very soft, so soft that he squeezes on the warmth just marvelling at its feel under his fingers. It's nothing like the bodies of his best friends. Theirs were thick sinewy muscles under soft skin that felt too boney to be nice. Not that they weren't soft, it's mostly just kind of awkward to hold. Some were too tall, some too thin and others too big for him to actually cuddle into their warmth. Plus, most of the time they would try to escape his death grip and he would wake up to a kick in the face for entering their personal space.

Mostly because he accidentally rubbed his morning wood on their ass but that wasn't the point.

This pillow snuggles back into him, reciprocating his touch with the press of its fingers over his own. Plus, it smells really good. Sweet. A pretty scent edged with a musky aromatic tang. A sweetness that reminds him of something fresh, feminine and pretty. It appeals to his body in an I-want-to-smell-this-all-day way and so it's an almost natural instinct for him to wrap his arms around the source of the smell and presses his nose to the easiest area of contact.

It's addictive. He pushed his nose against the soft skin, nuzzling into it as he breathes deeply. He could smell peach body soap and his favourite fabric softener, even the soft scent of milk on her skin, but those weren't the smells that appealed to him. It's the pillow's own natural scent that reminds him of happy things and makes his heart feel warm and mushy, dripping with something he doesn't know.

The giggle that escapes from the soft comfy being in his arms barely registers in his sleep-addled mind nor did the little squirm in protest. He doesn't even notice the heating of blushing skin when he continues to nudge the skin with his nose as he moves closer to the pillow. He just takes the squirming as a sign to pull it against him, pressing his body into the heavenly softness and wrapping large fingers tighter around the being.

Taehyung wants to stay here forever.

He could sleep if not for the distraction. Taehyung frowned, face twitching as his body heats up with desire. His morning wood is hard in his pants, throbbing and burning hot against his skin and he shamelessly pushes his hips into the warmth. It's instinct to thrust against the soft rounded mounds and the dip of the pillow, his body seeking for some form of relief from the almost painful tightness deep in his belly.

The pillow freezes, body clamping up under his touch and he stiffens in preparation for a slap to the face. But instead, the pillow in his arms relaxes meets him head-on with grinds of its hips, pushing a soft plush bottom against his throbbing cock. The pleasure blossoms and he lets out an involuntary groan, body tingling as white-hot heat radiates from his crotch and bursts across his skin. It's so so potent and all-consuming that Taehyung's eyes immediately snapped open in a hazed shock.

What the f*ck?

The cry of a baby startled him from stupor and he's confused as he blinks blearily. The sudden soft wail is small and pitiful. The sound is sharp in the silence of the room and his heart clenches in concern. His warm pillow leaves him and his body is left awkwardly laying at his side. It doesn't feel right with his right arm hanging loosely without its previous support and the lack of that warm fuzziness is a cold emptiness that burns through his system.

It's as if his soul were protesting at the lack of the pillow.

His cock though was definitely outraged at the lack of attention, shivering in his pants as it weeps and coats his underwear. Wet, warm and sticky.

Urgh.

He rubs his eyes, trying to get his pupils to focus. Something wiggles towards him and when his knuckles leave his face, they are replaced by tiny little hands that clap at his cheeks. His eyes widened taking in the sight of this...This child.

A gummy open-mouthed smile greets him as chubby little fingers gently pressed against his lips and pulled at his hair. The little thing pouted at him, revealing the inner side of red lower lips. Large heavily lidded eyes met his, a light hazel shade. They were a little teary at the corners, lashes sticking together from the tiny droplets of tears. The child babbles cutely as it pats his cheeks, almost as if it were speaking to him.

His soul melts at the sight, his mind momentarily distracted from the thing in his pants.

Cute...So so f*cking cute.

He finds his body reacting out of his control and he draws closer to that little child, lips pressing kisses to its cheeks and face in loud exaggerated smooches. The baby is soft, radiating a scent that's milky and clean. The kid giggles under his touch, a high pitched little squeal that makes his heart swell and balloon within his chest.

God, he didn't know he was that into babies.

Some fans would bring their kids to fan signs and sure his heart always melted at the cuteness but the feelings that bubbled within him now is something entirely new and foreign. Previously, when fans brought their kids it was like biting into cheap crumbly chocolate chip cookies, sweet but nothing too mindblowing. This was different. This was crumbly chocolate cookies with chewy centres that dribbled with hot liquid milk chocolate.

This was better.

Someone pulls open the curtains sending a blast of light across his features and he winces as he turns, shielding his eyes from the godly light of the sun with a raise of his hand. He squints, eyes adjusting as he stares at the approaching silhouette.

It's...It's her.

His heart stutters in his chest.

He could never forget those beautiful honey and chocolate eyes.

 _"Omo, you really like papa's kisses don't you, baby?"_ She cooed cutely at the kid in his arms, bouncing another one on her hips. She's dressed in a soft white sundress, the fabric hanging loosely over her figure and dipping into the turn of her hips and outlining the swell of her generous breasts. It flutters with the brush of a soft breeze outlined by the long strands of wavy dark chocolate hair that trailed down her back.

Pretty...So so pretty.

Taehyung colours as the tips of her breasts winked in and out of sight with the change of the angle of the morning light, a light rosy pink that was the same colour as her beautiful lips. He's blushing at the sight, not entirely used to seeing girls without bras or in see-through outfits and his heart raced in his chest so loud that he can feel it throbbing in his temples.

Tempting.

His dick agrees.

The other little thing in her arms is absolutely adorable, a carbon copy of the one currently playing with his hair. The kid stares blankly at him in shock with huge eyes, sucking its thumb cutely as it cuddles into her chest like a koala bear.

At his gaze, it tilts its head to rest on her chest like a pillow all the while babbling the words  _"Pa!Pa!Pa!"_ as it chirps at him, a familiar smile on its lips.

It grins, clamping whatever teeth it has together and the look of it, if he ignores the wide gummy gaps. He's reminded of his own smile, the shape of his lips and the exposure of his teeth at that proportion, at that width.

That was his smile.

That was his Mom's smile.

That was his grandpa's smile.

Wait...What the f*ck?

Papa?

He watched transfixed as she approached him. The light illuminates her, casting a golden outline over her skin and colouring her dark brown hair into a pretty caramel. She steps forward and his body reacts against his will.

He finds himself taking her free hand and his palms dwarf hers. The size difference is cute but at this point of time, Taehyung couldn't care less. The flash of a golden string burns into his retinas as he stared wide eyed at the numerous tiny golden roses that blossomed over their fingers under his gaze. Tendrils of golden vines circled their hands, drawing them closer together. They're beautiful, a soft golden colour that reminds Taehyung of droplets of honey in the sun.

His body moves against his will, pressing a kiss to her pinky and he stared cross-eyed at the tiny golden roses that blooms under his lips. His eyes remaining trained on her pinky even when she pulled her hand back to have a firmer grip on their child.

She was...his soulmate???

Good God.

 _"How's my little sunshine?"_  Taehyung snapped his gaze back upwards and he watched as the BEST best friend of his life walks into the room. Jimin's beaming, looking so happy that Taehyung has to blink a few times to just check his vision. He's almost forgotten how his best friend looked like when deliriously happy, having seen him as an angry sad mop of feelings for the past month.

His adorable best friend had been a ball of steaming electricity, growling at everything and everyone for the past month. He's dunked himself into work, dancing for way too long to be normal and when he's not dancing moodily or singing somewhere, he's crying buckets in their bed. There's barely anything Taehyung can do. He's tried every single method in the world, but his best friend was just way too heartbroken to be salvaged.

It's painful for Taehyung when he sees Jimin smiling so brightly and fakely in front of their fans camera, putting up an act for the people who idolized him. He's been a professional about this, keeping his feelings in check when it comes to work but still it's sad, very very sad and the team's morale had been affected by this predicament.

Because Jimin was, after all, a reflection of what they could all potentially experience considering their lack of a soulmate after so many years. If anything, it solidified their resolve to give up on the whole idea of love, or at least Taehyung's.

He's been considering just following in Jungkook's footsteps and finding a girlfriend to ease his loneliness.

Anyway, his cute best friend is glowing with happiness. Eyes disappearing into pretty moons and pretty cheeks bulging slightly from the wideness of his smile. His happiness is all-consuming and it radiates out of him in waves, he's so flipping ecstatic, he's bouncing on his heels. He skipped into the room looking as if he were high on some kind of drug, bubbles of laughter escaping his lips.

       

And then he has his lips over hers and Taehyung is left gaping at the scene, unable to comprehend what the flying peep was going on.

The way they kiss is nothing like anything he had seen in movies. Hell, his parents were really conservative so they refrained from physical contact when in front of him and his siblings. This was a cute kiss, no extreme tongue action, no heavy petting, no lip biting, nothing.

It simply involves lip on lip and a tiny amount of open mouth kisses. But, it's gentle. And when Jimin kisses her it's as if he were savouring her touch, memorizing the feel of her skin and appreciating her very being. He's drinking her in, closing his eyes to fully appreciate the feel of her and when he tilts her chin up to give her cute little nips, she laughs drawing an adorable shy smile on his best friend's lips. Each mould and press of his lips is a sensual kiss that so full of love, sweetness and everything nice that Taehyung feels as if he were getting a toothache from how sweet Jimin is being.

From this angle, Taehyung could see the glazed look in his best friend's eyes, the soppy stare of his best friend as he kisses her. He's lovesick. Taehyung realizes and then flowers blossom on both of their heads, each stalk more beautiful than the next.

No way.

 _"Ah, I lost control again."_ Jimin hums softly, pursing plump swollen lips together. His best friend has always been very pretty. The prettiest of the lot if he did say so himself. They've constantly teased him about his feminine looks and when interviewers asked Taehyung which member he would marry if he had to. Taehyung would always pick his top best friend in BTS, Jimin.

Now, decked with a head full of the prettiest soul flowers and with love painting his cheeks. Jimin is at his prettiest. The laughter and smile on his lips elicit something in his chest that bubbles in his heart. Taehyung is happy, he's happy that his best friend is happy.

Then she laughs and it's a sweet dark chocolate rumble that spreads outwards and lights up the room. It seemed to make everything seem better. God, he felt a little light-headed too . What was this feeling?Taehyung tried desperately to pin this warm caramel sweetness in his heart.

He's happy that she's happy.

Is this love?

 _"Minnie, we have so many in the house already!"_ His soulmate sighs, but there's a smile on her lips as she sinks into Jimin's embrace to rest her head on his shoulder. She fits perfectly in his grip.

 _"Sorry, I just fall in love with you everytime I see you."_  His best friend flirts, hands wrapped around her hips, pulling her closer to cover the gap between their legs. His fingers travelling a little lower to rest over her round plump ass.

It's weird but Taehyung doesn't feel an ounce of jealousy. It's more of an I-want-to-grope-that-ass too.

"That's not how it works!" She huffs and the baby in her arms reached for the petals, plucking them from her hair to play with the flowers. Jimin bends down to scoop the baby beside him into his arms, blowing a raspberry on its skin and the kid laughs, releasing those adorable bursts of baby laughter.

It's cute. It's wholesome and Taehyung doesn't know why but the feeling that blossoms in his heart are not feelings that are dark, toxic and evil. It's not one that is filled with jealousy and envy as he should feel.

It's warm, sweet and adoring.

He's happy?

_**"Taehyung."** _

He watched as she turns, moving closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Up close he could really see her every feature and the light highlights the length of her eyelashes turning dark chocolate eyes into warm gooey honey gold.

God. HELPHELPHELPHELP.

 _"What are you thinking about, Tae?"_  She says, her voice low and sultry. He likes it. He really likes her voice, soft velvety and deeper than usual. It's pretty in a malt whisky kind of way over syrupy brews that tasted too much like processed sugar.

Her lips move into a smile that's so pretty and warm it takes his breath away and his heart starts to flutter. There are a million butterflies fluttering in his stomach and his heart, it breaks.

It breaks at the sight of her. She's like the sun, warming a frozen lake into a beautiful pool of golden water and he feels like he's in the presence of a star that fell from the sky, shooting a thousand arrows of love into his heart on its way down.

From the very beginning, in that toilet. He had already fallen in love with her.

He's whipped.

F*ck.

_**"Taehyung."** _

She's moving closer, her lips centimetres from his face and her eyes draw him in like moths to light. Her lips twitched into a wider smile.

_"My love, you're so beautiful."_

_**"Taehyung, wake up."** _

       

The change is sharp and sudden. Someone shoves him and he's snapped out of whatever that was to be greeted by the sight of his room in their dormitory. Jimin standing before him. The difference is big. His best friend looks like a wreck here. Dark eyebags laced his undereye and weariness hung over him like a cloud. His very being screamed his sadness and depression and it takes a lot of effort for him to cracks a sad, weak smile.

Taehyung is startled by how unhappy he looked and the contrast from the Jimin in his dreams with the Jimin now is heartbreaking. He's reminded of happy Jimin blowing raspberries on the skin of a plump pretty little tofu of a baby. He's reminded of his baby in his arms giggling at him with huge eyes.

He's reminded of her, just about to press her lush lips onto his.

Was that...

Was that all just a dream?

His heart clenches and tears almost spill from his eyes. It hurts to think. It hurts to breath. The pain that radiates from his chest is so strong, it hurts to breath.

Was that fake? Was that all just his mind?

No...

 _"Go wash up, you're going to miss breakfast at this rate,_ " Jimin says softly, voice tinged with fondness despite the sadness that clung to his skin. His best friend tries, he tries to appear okay to Taehyung because he knows how much Taehyung worries about him.

Taehyung wanted to sleep some more. He liked that dream. She was going to kiss him.

He-He wanted that kiss. Taehyung stutters in his mind, swallowing back a lump of bitterness. He wanted his babies. He wanted smiling happy Jimin. He wanted their soulmate. God, his soulmate. His mind flickers to their meeting.

Their real-life meeting.

Toilet girl had been scarily cute. Scary because she really isn't Taehyung's type, he believed he was into bronze-skinned girls with thick messy curls. But his heart had been hammering so fast in his chest at the sight of her snuggled into that huge hoodie, her hair curled upwards from the beanie. At that point in time, he had seriously doubted his sexual orientation having believed her to be a guy.

When she had touched his hand he had been so sure that he was definitely gay. That felt too good to not be his soulmate. The idea initially didn't cross his mind but after thinking back on it. It could be **Soul Melt**  when the touch of the soulmate was like a drug. Not every soulmate had this but some did, especially those that couldn't keep their hands off each other.

He had a sexual identity crisis at that point in time.

He didn't know she was a girl until she had turned to go and Taehyung, being the ultimate number one woman sensor had his eyes immediately trained upon the curve of her chest under the soft hoodie. The curve itself was evidence of a shapely voluptuous form.

He had sighed in relief then. He had nothing against males but he just preferred girls. He guessed he was into the soft small figures rather than the bony muscles of broad-shouldered males. He's cuddled with his best friends so many times he's very sure he doesn't want that for the rest of his life.

He hoists himself out of bed clambering noisily towards the toilet.

The dream.

It was so realistic. Too realistic and he swears he still can smell the hints of her on his skin. He groaned, stomping into the bathroom and reaching for his toothbrush only to stop at the sight of the rose tattoo on his pinky.

It was glowing, radiating golden light that bounced off his skin like the ass of a firefly and Taehyung's heart stops for a second.

It couldn't be. No. If his soul mark was reacting then that means that wasn't just a normal, hyper-realistic dream.

That...That was a  **SoulDream.**

A dream that prophesied the future with your soulmate. His parents had this soul bond and they had dreamt of him in their arms, their love story had started with him and they had known his name before they met. Taehyung smiled, pressing his lips to the print softly and he doesn't know if it's his imagination or not but it thrums under his lips.

If this wasn't a sign, Taehyung didn't know what was.

       

 

**Author's Note:**

> For faster updates...Find the original on Wattpad/Tapas.io  
> https://tapas.io/episode/1412002  
> @tinyeyecat @my soulmates are idols


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